School equalization in the shadow of Jim Crow: Causes and consequences of resource disparity in Mississippi circa 1940

Mississippi’s 1920 school finance equalization program failed to benefit many of the state’s Black students—an outcome emblematic of broader patterns in the segregated U.S. South Bond (1934). In majority-Black districts, local officials disproportionately allocated funds from the state’s existing per capita fund to white schools. These elevated expenditures on white students rendered such districts ineligible for equalization aid, excluding Black students from its intended benefits. While Black students in majority-white districts experienced improvements in school spending and standards, those in majority-Black districts continued to endure extremely low—in some cases declining—levels of school funding. Exploiting variation in school spending induced by this so-called equalization policy, we document a tragedy in racist public policy. We estimate large positive marginal effects of local educational spending on Black students’ enrollment rates, educational attainment, and lifetime earnings. In contrast, estimated impacts of marginal spending on white students are minimal. A reallocation of funding toward Black students might have substantially improved their well-being at little cost to white students.