School Attendance Zone Boundary Changes and Segregation in a Suburban Black Enclave

This study investigated the relationship between school attendance zone boundary (AZB) changes and racial segregation in Prince George's County Public Schools in Maryland, a diversifying, majority-Black suburban district outside Washington, DC. We found that the district's frequent and widespread elementary AZB changes since 1990 were largely segregative, especially as its court-ordered desegregation plan ended. Our findings reflect a district in which contemporary rezoning processes were largely race evasive, as they are in many other places, although trends there may be shaped by the particular politics of race and class of this majority-Black setting. Our findings add to a growing literature on how suburban districts respond to diversifying student populations, and they can help inform efforts for more integrative and equitable AZBs.