This article investigates whether and the extent to which “white flight” from Hispanic and Limited English Proficient (LEP)
students has been occurring in California’s public schools and further, examines the level (school or district) on which “white
flight” may operate. Using school-level administrative data from the California Department of Education from 1990 to 2000,
we estimate exponential growth rate models of white enrollment with school-level fixed effects. The results shed light on
the implications of immigration for school segregation in the United States. The analysis indicates that white enrollment
declined in response to increases in the number of Spanish-speaking LEP and Hispanic students, and that “white flight” from
LEP or Hispanic students occurred more at the district than the school level in the case of primary schools, and at the school
level for secondary schools. In addition, schools with higher percentages of Spanish LEP students in the school than the district,
and with higher percentages in the district relative to the county, experienced greater losses in white enrollments than other
schools, thus suggesting that higher levels of segregation in the wider metropolitan area accelerate white flight.
Keywords Hispanic children - Immigration - Low English Proficiency - School segregation - White flight