Spatial Examination of Students by School Type and Location

School siting and school choice policies influence travel distance. As noted previously, St. Paul neighborhood schools average lower enrollment than those in Roseville. Coupled with greater residential density, St. Paul neighborhood schools can draw from smaller enrollment areas than those in Roseville. Figures 4-1 and 4-2 contrast the distribution of students in a sample St. Paul and Roseville neighborhood school, respectively, showing more students live near the St. Paul school.

The distribution of magnet school students is markedly different. Magnet schools draw greater district-wide enrollment in St. Paul and Roseville than do neighborhood schools, and in some cases, from far outside the district14. This distribution highlights the potential effect of a school choice policy: to attend non-neighborhood schools increases travel distance.

14

Figure 4-1: Typical Distribution of St. Paul Students by School Type

Figure 4-3 compares cumulative distribution plots for travel distance by school type and school location. Neighborhood schools experience greater enrollment near the school than do magnet schools, in both St. Paul and Roseville. The percent of students traveling less than 0.8 km, the maximum distance for which the literature (and the survey sample) found walking to have the largest mode share, is greater for St. Paul

neighborhood (26%) than Roseville neighborhood (18%), St. Paul magnet (9%), and Roseville magnet (5%). At a travel distance of 1.6 km, the near-maximum distance for which the literature (and the survey sample) found children walk to school, the percent of students living inside that distance grew for St. Paul neighborhood (49%), Roseville neighborhood (44%), St. Paul magnet (17%) and Roseville magnet (20%).

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Travel distance (km) C u mu la ti ve per c e n t o f t o ta l s tud e n ts at d ist ance St. Paul magnet St. Paul neighborhood Roseville magnet Roseville neighborhood

The influence of school siting and school choice policies changes at greater travel distances. Referencing again Figure 4-3, St. Paul neighborhood and magnet schools experience greater enrollment than Roseville neighborhood and magnet schools at travel distances less than 1.6 km. A likely explanation is traditional school siting and greater residential density in St. Paul. Roseville magnet enrollment surpasses St. Paul magnet enrollment at distances greater than 1.6 km, however. Roseville neighborhood schools experience greater enrollment than St. Paul neighborhood schools outside 2.1 km. The most likely explanation is district size, 145 square kilometers in St. Paul versus 53 in Roseville (i.e., students in Roseville simply cannot travel as far), though school choice and school siting are also possible explanations. The single Roseville magnet school is centrally located while the many St. Paul magnet schools are spread citywide. St. Paul neighborhood schools also allow limited citywide enrollment unlike neighborhood schools in Roseville.

A separate yet related question is whether school choice and bus service jointly effect the decision to attend an assigned school. Recall, St. Paul provides bus service to elementary-age students living outside 1.6 km from their school. The distance is 0.8 km in Roseville. If a parent desires for a child to travel via bus and bus service is unavailable to the assigned school, a parent might choose instead to send that child to a farther magnet school. Parents might similarly choose a non-assigned school if they perceive travel distance to the assigned school too far for walking and bus service is not yet available.

While the survey instrument cannot definitively answer this question, the

following comparison, of whether a student attends their assigned school at varying travel distances, does provide some insight (Table 4-1). At the shortest travel distance, < 0.4 km, the highest percentage of students attend their assigned school in both St. Paul (37%) and Roseville (96%). The St. Paul percent is far lower because of its strong school choice policy. That percentage drops in the second interval, 0.4-0.8 km, where bus service remains unavailable in both districts. In the third interval, the percentage of students attending their assigned school drops further from 30 to 22% in St. Paul, while increasing from 75 to 79% in Roseville, perhaps because of now available bus service in Roseville.

In the last interval, > 1.6 km, the percent attending their assigned school drops to its lowest value in both districts, despite available bus service to the assigned school. These trends suggest a possible relationship between available bus service and the choice to attend an assigned school in Roseville. In St. Paul, however, students are less likely to attend their assigned school as travel distance to that school increases. Bus service availability at 1.6 km appears to not have an effect.

Table 4-1: Assigned School Attendance by Travel Distance to Assigned School

Attend (%) Do not attend (%) Totala Attend (%) Do not attend (%) Totala

< 0.4 km 37 63 104 96 4 26 0.4-0.8 km 30 70 219 75 25 65 0.8-1.6 km 22 78 292 79 21 126 > 1.6 km 12 88 246 64 36 218 All 23 77 861 72 28 435 Roseville St. Paul Travel distance a

Total 'n' is 1,296 and includes all students who live in the school district. Students living outside the district do not have an assigned school.