The public school education literature refers to national trends of resegregation in schools, uneven State financing and children unable to pass standardized State tests. Long Island has not escaped any of these national trends. In fact, funding disparities between school districts (due to Long Island's system of supporting schools through property taxes) has fostered regional inequities and sharply differing student performance levels. Many Long Island schools populated with a majority of black and brown students have been officially designated by New York State as "nonperforming" under the Federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Public school segregation on Long Island dates back to the very beginning of suburban development, the intentional result of residential segregation and the eventual establishment of 127 independent school districts in Nassau and Suffolk counties that mirror the residential segregation. Racial isolation in school is where many racial inequities begin, restricting the choices African American and Latino children have in education, imagination and economic opportunities. Inter-district racial segregation is severe.

Overall, 27% of Nassau-Suffolk's public school children are children of color and 73% are White, but few Long Island school districts come close to this racial balance. As noted in Racism and the Opportunity Divide on Long Island, a report commissioned by ERASE Racism in July 2002 and prepared by the Institute on Race and Poverty:

"The extreme fragmentation of Long Island's school districts is a severe impediment to educational equity. The fragmented school districts perpetuate residential segregation and burden Long Island's children of color with harmful educational effects or racial and economic segregation. Virtually all Long Island school children, including most White children, are currently denied the benefits of an integrated education. These benefits include reductions in racial prejudice and stereotyping, and preparation of students to live and work in our increasingly multicultural and international society. For children isolated in high-poverty schools, however, the segregation has additional dire educational consequences. Studies have shown that the poverty level of the school as a whole impacts student achievement in ways that go beyond the effects of individual student poverty. Low-income students in high poverty schools fare worse than low-income students in less impoverished schools.

When communities integrate their schools, the overwhelming result is improvement in academic achievement for children of color previously isolated in segregated schools, with no loss in academic achievement for White students. Low-income Black children who move to low poverty suburban neighborhoods are less likely than those who stay in high poverty neighborhoods to drop out of school, and more likely to take college track classes and attend two-year or four-year colleges."