Many Americans are unaware that school segregation still exists. In the 1950s, school segregation was deliberate and explicitly racist. Today, racism continues as parents protest integration plans and districts gerrymander school boundary lines.

Although it has been nearly 70 years since the United States Supreme Court made enforced school segregation illegal in public schools, it remains pervasive across the United States—including New Mexico. 

What’s Happening in Las Cruces?

In Las Cruces, our local population is growing, and there is a projected need for more primary schools. Before we build new schools and draw school boundaries, we needed to examine how segregation can inhibit student success and how integration can promote equitable educational outcomes for our children. 

With this in mind, the NMSU Center for Community Analysis initiated a study to examine school segregation in Las Cruces and school attendance boundaries or "catchment zones," one of the main drivers of school segregation today.

Our research revealed that Las Cruces public and charter schools are deeply segregated by race, income, language, and disability status—driving a local achievement gap.

Why Segregation Matters

For example, at Loma Heights, an elementary school with one of the highest poverty rates in the district, only 12 percent of third-graders were proficient in reading—compared to 52 percent proficiency in Desert Hills Elementary, a low-poverty school.

School segregation has a profound effect on student outcomes. Research by the U.S. Department of Education shows that low-income students who attend a school with low-poverty poverty rates are 70 percent more likely to attend college than if they attend a high-poverty school. 

Modern school segregation is driven by systemic inequality and a lack of forethought. Existing residential segregation in U.S. neighborhoods spills over into schools, dividing school zones by race and socioeconomic status. White, non-Hispanic students often have greater access to high-performing, low-poverty schools. In contrast, students of color and other marginalized students are disproportionately assigned to high-poverty schools that often lack the funding and resources to serve them.

Our new story map shows how health and social inequities are concentrated in certain Las Cruces neighborhoods, so it stands to reason that some schools will need extra resources to close the opportunity gaps.

School Boundaries and Student Success in LCPS

School catchment zones (also called school attendance zones or boundaries) are defined as the geographic residential area from which students are assigned to a local school. Districts often draw school catchment zones to capture neighborhoods closest to a “neighborhood school.” 

Therefore, school composition often replicates existing housing segregation unless school districts use socioeconomic neighborhood data to draw boundaries that intentionally integrate students from diverse neighborhoods. 

Our analysis in LCPS found a sixfold difference between the highest-poverty elementary school and the lowest-poverty elementary school. This is concerning because of the relationship between poverty and student outcomes. Students in high-poverty schools often do not have the same educational opportunities as students in wealthier schools. Students in low-poverty schools tend to have more access to challenging coursework such as advanced placement classes, higher qualified teachers, and higher expectations for students. 

In LCPS, 56 percent of all elementary students are considered economically disadvantaged. In some schools, as many as 78 percent of students qualify as economically disadvantaged while in others the number is as small as 13 percent. The implications of this are profound since it is much more likely that a student of color will be assigned to a high-poverty school than a white, non-Hispanic student, deepening the opportunity and achievement gaps between students. 

The effect of segregation is obvious. In LCPS, nearly half of white non-Hispanic third graders are proficient in reading compared to approximately one out of four Hispanic, African American, or Native American students.