The Spatial Echo of Inequity: Mapping the Sender-Receiver Ecosystem of Michigan School Finance

This interactive map visualizes how 1930s federal redlining policies continue to shape the fiscal health of Michigan school districts. Using a Critical Geography and Race framework, we track the "spatial echo" of Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) maps, showing how Depression-era cartography serves as a modern-day balance sheet.

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Our research identifies a significant capital penalty: districts in historically redlined "D" zones possess approximately $128,500 less tax base wealth per pupil (TBWPP) than non-redlined areas, even after controlling for contemporary demographics. These boundaries act as economic walls, protecting property wealth in favored suburban enclaves while trapping legacy costs—such as aging infrastructure and pension debt—in the urban core.

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The map quantifies "Fiscal Flux," the systemic movement of state aid from "sender" districts to "receiver" districts via interdistrict choice. This dynamic creates a "Phantom Wealth" paradox, where declining enrollment masks operational insolvency by artificially inflating per-pupil revenue ratios. This tool reframes funding disparities not as local failures, but as the structural result of a system that ignores the cumulative educational debt owed to marginalized communities.