CMS officials have begun drafting guidelines for how the district will draw new school attendance zones. The
student assignment process will be designed to address several goals, including reducing the number of schools that have high concentrations of poor and high-needs children. A new studycould give CMS leaders another point to consider.
Researchers have found that where students are assigned to attend school can have a “spillover” effect on neighborhood crime. I spoke to a co-author of that study. Dr. Stephen Billings is an economics professor at UNC Charlotte.