Clairton and West Jefferson Hills school districts among nation's starkest economic divides

Three school districts in Western Pennsylvania were identified on a national report showing stark economic differences between neighboring districts.

”Fault Lines,” released Thursday by the nonprofit EdBuild, named America’s 50 “most segregating school district borders” — defined as neighboring districts with strong differences in student poverty rates and resources allocated to students.

The Allegheny County districts of Clairton City and West Jefferson Hills represent the country’s ninth-greatest school district divide.

In Beaver County, the divide between Aliquippa and Hopewell Area ranked 42nd. In Cambria County, Greater Johnstown was compared to Conemaugh Township Area, Westmont Hilltop and Richland, ranking 20th, 27th and 41st, respectively.

Clairton, where 80% of students are nonwhite, has a student poverty rate of 40% and a median household income of $31,112, according to the report. Neighboring West Jefferson Hills, by contrast, has a 5% student poverty rate, and a median income of $75,694. Enrollment of nonwhite students is 7%.

“We do not have nearly the money that our neighboring district does,” said Ginny Hunt, superintendent of Clairton City School District. “We upgrade what we can and we definitely maintain, but safety definitely outweighs the cosmetic look of the building.”

West Jefferson Hills School Board President Brian Fernandes declined to comment.

Hunt said she was disappointed in the way the report characterized the entire town of Clairton. She said the report leaves out information about the ways the school already seeks to address economic disparities: offering a free asthma clinic, and providing dental and vision services and full physicals, for example.

“I doubt many school districts provide as many social services as we do,” Hunt said.

But the disparity exists. One cause, according to the report, is the districts’ reliance on property tax receipts. When the neighborhoods making up the district do not have high property values, the schools struggle to scrounge up adequate funding. The local revenue per pupil is about $4,000 in Clairton, but it is nearly triple that in West Jefferson Hills. Hunt said many of her district’s projects are funded by grant money.

Another cause of the economic segregation, according to EdBuild, is the fact that school districts are drawn “narrowly,” in ways that needlessly divide communities between rich and poor. Pennsylvania has 501 school districts — which the report called high by national standards. Drawing district lines around small municipalities, instead of including multiple communities per district, makes it easy for politicians to neglect low-income families.

“As a general rule, we continue to find that the most divisive school district borders — be it measured by race, income or funding — are found in states with unnecessarily small school districts,” EdBuild CEO Rebecca Sibilia said in a statement. “Those students are stuck in impoverished districts because of a lack of political coverage.”

But Larry Nicolette, business manager for Clairton City School District, said drawing the district borders isn’t that simple. The commonwealth system in Pennsylvania makes neighborhoods responsible for school districts, and there are also more geographical borders — rivers and other barriers — that other parts of the country might not have to deal with.

Past attempts by Clairton to redraw school district lines and consolidate with neighboring districts, including West Jefferson Hills, were unsuccessful, and some district officials are unsure if it would really be for the best.

“If we were to merge, we would pretty much lose our identity as a town,” said Richard Livingston, president of the Clairton school board.

Nicolette also said the report makes some miscalculations, and mischaracterizes the role of U.S. Steel in the well-being of the school district. The U.S. Steel Coke Works provides about a third of Clairton’s tax base, the report said. The report alleges that U.S. Steel’s property value had dropped from $8.1 million in 2013 to $7.2 million in 2018. But Nicolette said the property value has actually risen to $8.5 million and, as a result, the taxes U.S. Steel pays to the district has also risen.

“They have played fair, if you will, since they had their original assessment,” Nicolette said. “And they’ve actually paid us more, because they’ve increased the value of their plant.”

Overall, though, Clairton City School District officials said the report sheds an important light on the ways the district is struggling to meet the needs of students with limited funding.

“All in all, I’m glad that EdBuild is pointing this out,” said Hunt. “Because we can’t fix it at the local level. It can only be fixed at a much higher political level.”