This research investigates and explains Michigan’s system for funding public schools, particularly for Black students, via Critical Race Theory, focusing on structural racism and discrimination embedded in education finance laws, housing policies, and residential and educational segregation. This research agenda is one of the first studies to apply Critical Race Theory,* through quantitative analysis, to school finance data. Although the Michigan school finance has been rigorously analyzed (Arsen et al., 2019; Arsen & Plank, 2004), this research provides a unique perspective of how property wealth inequalities in Michigan fall especially hard on districts that primarily serve Black students receiving FRL.

*Alemán (2007) applied Critical Race Theory to investigate funding inequities for majority Mexican-American districts in Texas. And recently, DeCuir-Gunby (2020) applied the use of conducting critical race mixed methods (CRMM) to quantitative methodology more generally in educational psychology. Alemán (2007) applied Critical Race Theory to investigate funding inequities for majority Mexican-American districts in Texas. And recently, DeCuir-Gunby (2020) applied the use of conducting critical race mixed methods (CRMM) to quantitative methodology more generally in educational psychology.