It’s the feel-good story of the year for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) campuses: LAUSD has recently broken ground on a stunning $70 million renovation of Ivanhoe Elementary in Silver Lake, which includes a new building that will increase the school’s permanent capacity.
Ivanhoe is celebrated within the district, boasting over 80% of its students reading at grade level. In an era marked by declining enrollment across Los Angeles, Ivanhoe has defied the trend, experiencing a 31% increase in enrollment from 2009 to 2019. It appears to be the quintessential success story for public education.
However, the necessity of this project has been called into question. Just ten minutes away, there are six other elementary schools—Allesandro, Atwater Avenue, Clifford Street, Franklin Avenue, Mayberry Street, and Micheltorena—that are operating at significantly reduced capacities. Once accommodating 3,215 students, their collective enrollment for the 2023-24 school year stands at only 1,642.
The district could have saved taxpayers $70 million simply by opening these underutilized schools to families from Ivanhoe.
Yet, such a course of action was politically unfeasible. The allure of Ivanhoe is substantial, often prompting parents to pay a premium for homes within its attendance zone to secure a spot for their children. Tanya Anton, a public school admissions consultant and author of the GoMamaGuide to Los Angeles schools, notes that parents frequently spend up to $300,000 more for properties located within the valued public school zones. This phenomenon leads many Ivanhoe parents to feel they have already financially contributed to their child’s “free” public education through their mortgages.
Consequently, families at Ivanhoe tend to be more affluent compared to the general LAUSD student population, with only 14% of its students classified as low-income, giving them a prominent voice in district decisions. Notably, Ivanhoe is one of the few LAUSD elementary schools with a majority White student body.
Even more concerning is that the school’s attendance zone reflects a long history of discrimination within the neighborhood. Research from my organization highlights that the zone for Ivanhoe aligns closely with a racist redlining map from 1939, encompassing nearly all areas deemed “desirable” at that time, while excluding regions with significant concentrations of low-income families of color.
Essentially, the Ivanhoe attendance zone perpetuates the same exclusionary practices established by historical redlining, effectively boxing out low-income families. This is not a mere coincidence; the district’s Open Enrollment statistics demonstrate this systemic issue. Each year, schools are required by law to report their available seats for students living outside their attendance zones, data that the district publishes for parents.
Despite a recent drop in enrollment at Ivanhoe since the pandemic—from 467 to 432 students—there should be at least 35 open seats. Yet, the most recent list published in July indicated that Ivanhoe did not report any available seats for families outside the zone.
This is a clear example of educational redlining, which is not isolated to Ivanhoe. Franklin Avenue Elementary, another majority-White school, has seen a 24% decrease in enrollment since 2005. At least 129 seats should be available there as well. However, low-income children just a short distance away in East Hollywood or Echo Park are effectively unwelcome at both Franklin Avenue and Ivanhoe.
This squandered $70 million should serve as a wake-up call for families in Los Angeles. The most highly regarded public schools in the city are not genuinely accessible to the public.
