What caused sudden Demographic shifts in Dallas Public Schools? (Richardson: section 8, day care)

[BrendanRabbitt]

I know in the late 80s til about 2001, Blacks were the majority in Dallas schools. Then all of a sudden Hispanics became the majority and now are 63% of Enrollment, while blacks are 30%. What caused this?

[fratermus]

Immigration and birth rate, one would think.

[PhenomenalAJ]

Yea its not exactly a Stonehenge-like mystery, the black population remained largely static while the Latino population skyrocketed.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by fratermus

Immigration and birth rate, one would think.

I forgot to mention...black flight to the suburbs, also. There are areas of Dallas that were once majority-black that are now majority-Hispanic.

[Pete53FR]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

I forgot to mention...black flight to the suburbs, also. There are areas of Dallas that were once majority-black that are now majority-Hispanic.

Old East Dallas has gone from white to Hispanic.Big D Geek makes a good point in that many blacks have moved outside of DISD. However, busing caused DISD to loose most of its white. I know that I bought my home because my son would have been able to walk up the alley and cross at a light and be at Dan D Rodgers. When he would have been able to go he would have been bussed out 3 of 6 years so I left him at his day care First Baptist and my other three sons went to Zion Lutheran once again a short walk to get there.

I have never been against integration but am against busing. I am also not politically correct when it comes to education.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by Pete53FR

Old East Dallas has gone from white to Hispanic.Big D Geek makes a good point in that many blacks have moved outside of DISD. However, busing caused DISD to loose most of its white. I know that I bought my home because my son would have been able to walk up the alley and cross at a light and be at Dan D Rodgers. When he would have been able to go he would have been bussed out 3 of 6 years so I left him at his day care First Baptist and my other three sons went to Zion Lutheran once again a short walk to get there.

I have never been against integration but am against busing. I am also not politically correct when it comes to education.

DISD hasn't had forced busing to my knowledge in about 20 years, unless a school is so overcrowded that the neighborhood kids can't attend their home school; we see similar issues in Richardson with very highly-rated elementary schools; there simply are too many butts for not enough seats.

They used to have these things called "M to M" or "M&M" transfers in DISD where someone who is in the ethnic majority at their home school could transfer to a school where they would be an ethnic minority. I knew a lot of people who went to Hillcrest and they had those there. AFAIK they got rid of those types of transfers a long time ago. If a lot of students are transferring between schools, it's not under a forced busing program or M&Ms, at least not as far as I know.

I have heard from some black parents that they do not like their children attending DISD schools because what crumbling infrastructure there is seems to be devoted solely to Hispanic children's needs. I don't know if this is true or not but I've heard that complaint before from a lot of different people. DISD seems to be mired in racial politics but that's nothing new; 20-30 years ago people complained that the black kids were getting all the attention.

[Philip T]

There is also a safety and physical danger factor.

While the few remaining Whites are now regarded about like Asians -- just background and wallflowers if they are smart enough to keep their mouths shut -- Black and Brown has some open hostility.

For years, many Mexicans were forced into one-down and conditions of fear by the remaining (and temporarily dominant) Black community. Now there is some payback time. Gangs, in large part, exist for safety of the members, as well as community.

Beyond physical safety, there are the emotional stress and fear culture this creates. Education has a difficult time happening with the kids under stress.

So if one were doing sort of a Maslov's Hierarchy it looks like this.

1. Physical Safety -- cannot learn if you just got stabbed.
2. Emotional / Supportive Culture -- if you are afraid to walk to school and cannot even use the bathroom -- how are you going to be concerned about learning a multiplication table?
3. (Finally) Education -- Mixed portions of Dallas ISD have a hard time getting past #1 and #2, so this becomes pretty much just a dream.

Smartest thing to do does become to flee, (the now declining Black numbers) or drop-out, which has been up to 50% some years.

[Cowboys fan in Houston]

All you have to do is look at the how the demographics of Dallas have shifted over the years:

US2010

[Rakin]

Just guessing but I'd speculate Section 8 housing has played had a large factor in changing demographics.

[TX75007]

Its mostly because people grew up, got jobs, and moved, and had less kids than their parents, and moved out of DISD for many of the same reasons as anyone else.

Originally Posted by Rakin

Just guessing but I'd speculate Section 8 housing has played had a large factor in changing demographics.

Not as much as you think. Katrina saw a lot of black migration to Texas to the suburbs. Majority of these are not Section 8.

The Hispanic population is also dominated by Catholicism. More kids!