Legal Definitions - de facto segregation

De factosegregation refers to a situation where schools are not legally segregated by race, but segregation still exists. This term was commonly used during the 1960s when efforts were made to integrate schools.

For example, a school district may not have a policy that explicitly separates students by race, but if the majority of students in one school are of a certain race, and the majority of students in another school are of a different race, then de facto segregation exists.

De facto segregation is different from de jure segregation, which is segregation that is imposed by law or public authority.

Overall, de facto segregation means that even though there may not be any official policies or laws that segregate students by race, segregation still exists in practice.