Three Studies Evaluating the Potential of District Consolidation to Support School Desegregation in New Jersey

This dissertation examines district consolidation as a desegregation policy in New Jersey, a state with strong constitutional and legal protections against, yet persistently high levels of, school segregation. A combined Rossell-Levin theoretical framework is used to balance equity, efficiency, effectiveness, and social cohesion concerns with political feasibility and freedom of choice. This three-article dissertation assesses the structural potential, realized outcomes, and practical achievability of consolidation as a desegregation strategy. I conduct this dissertation within the context of the ongoing Latino Action Network v. New Jersey litigation, which pushes for bold desegregation through statewide reform of the current municipal system, and the 2022 School Regionalization Efficiency Act, which incentivizes voluntary, fiscally motivated district consolidation. Article 1 uses spatial counterfactual simulations across all 21 New Jersey counties to show that district boundary fragmentation is the primary driver of segregation, with effects concentrated most heavily in racially diverse counties. Article 2 applies a difference-in-differences analysis to the 1972 Morris School District merger, finding a statistically significant and sustained reduction in within-district segregation over five decades, with only modest White flight. Article 3 synthesizes these findings into a realization rate of approximately 50%, generating county-specific estimates of achievable desegregation gains. Results indicate that consolidation paired with deliberate student reassignment can produce meaningful, lasting desegregation. But political feasibility remains constrained: New Jersey’s only successful consolidation required judicial mandates, and subsequent petitions to obtain similar state-ordered mergers failed. Comparison with alternative policies (magnet schools, interdistrict choice, charter schools) reveals tradeoffs between political feasibility/freedom of choice and equity/effectiveness. Overall, consolidation’s structural potential is substantial but contingent on the design of reassignment policies and sustained enforcement commitment.