Chapter 4 returns to the story of Ms. Leanne Woods from the Introduction and provides a clear example of the negative impact of school closure policy, even on those whose schools remain open. In the long term, communities targeted by public school closure lose faith in the political process as durably changing the status quo appears elusive. These negative perceptions have serious consequences because participation provides one of the only mechanisms in a democracy for poor citizens to have power. And yet, the inability of their participation to produce long-term change pushes those affected by the policy to disengage with politics altogether. This chapter conceptualizes this latter phenomenon as indicative of their “collective participatory debt” – a type of mobilization fatigue that transpires when citizens engaged in policy process are met with a lack of democratic transparency and responsiveness despite high levels of repeated participation – and raises serious questions about the utility of participating while poor and Black in American democracy.

Chapter 1 answers the question of what citizens perceptions of the school closure policy are and how these attitudes vary by race. It reveals that African Americans and Latinx citizens – the majority of those affected by the policy – have highly negative attitudes toward public school closures. Whites express the most supportive attitudes toward closure, despite rare experiences with the policy. To explain these disparities, it highlights how African Americans and Latinx shared experiences with previous education policies and shared status as minorities contribute to the development of a shared target identity. Their identification as shared targets result in similar assessments of the closure policy, regardless of whether they are directly affected by it. Whites, in contrast, adopt a viewpoint akin to the purveyors of the policy. These findings have implications for understanding the challenges associated with working across racial lines, toward improved race relations and thus democratic progress.

Chapter 2 looks at how and to whom targeted citizens’ attribute blame and responsibility for school closure actions. In so doing, it brings forth issues of race, and representation, demonstrating the ability of those affected by closure to assign blame based on who holds the most power over closure decisions. In particular, this chapter shows how targets of closure express decreased support for the school district, generally, and decreased support for political actors associated with the policy, specifically the mayor and/or the governor. Further, it reveals how citizens determine the role of race in shaping who to blame more or less for what they are experiencing.

The Introduction outlines the main premise of the book: the mass closure of public schools has serious consequences for American democracy. It begins with one mother’s – Ms. Leanne Woods’ – fight to save Steel Elementary School in Philadelphia. Using the example of Steel elementary, it argues that citizens learn about politics through the institutions they interact with the most, and that for many Americans, schools are those institutions. Accordingly, when schools close en masse, these blunt policy instruments play a significant role in shaping citizens’ – specifically African Americans and Latinx – relationship with government, politics, and political participation. And yet, despite the direct consequences of these policies on the lives of these Americans, the connection between educational policy experiences and democracy remain understudied in political science. In the impending chapters, Closed for Democracy takes on this investigation and demonstrates how affected citizens come to win policy battles to save schools but lose their faith in government.

I am a native of the inner city of Chicago. I grew up in a low-income, government-subsidized housing complex, of which 99 percent of the residents were Blacks, called neighborhood commons, or “Orchard” for those who are from there. My mother still lives in this neighborhood today.

Chapter 3 examines how the closure process facilitates increased participation of affected citizens at the local level, in part, through the channeling of resources by the school district, which wants to be perceived as collecting community input. The resources provided by the district and community organizations facilitate increased protests of closure decisions. From their actions, this chapter demonstrates that affected citizens become the most likely group to attend a community meeting, to support an elected school board, and to turn out to vote. And yet, in the end this chapter raises the question of whether their actions lead to lasting policy change.

The book concludes by emphasizing how targeted citizen’s experiences with public school closures, and thus local government, weakens their trust in the political process and reduces their perceived value as citizens. Ultimately, the insights revealed in the book make clear that the closing of public schools contribute not only to the death of a school and its surrounding community but also to the slow death of citizens belief in, and access to, American democracy. Nonetheless, it also posits a potential way forward.