de facto segregation

Definition

Racial or socioeconomic separation in schools resulting from housing patterns and systemic factors rather than explicit policy, allowing everyone to claim innocence while perpetuating inequality. Segregation with plausible deniability.

Example Usage

The district insisted their schools weren't segregated, ignoring the de facto segregation created by residential zoning and school boundary gerrymandering.

Origin

Legal and educational policy terminology from post-Brown v. Board era

Fun Fact

American schools are now more segregated than they were in the 1980s, proving that sometimes progress moves backward.

Source: Educational equity research and civil rights documentation

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