Who is disproportionately potentially exposed to hazardous waste sites?

We found that Native American students, Black students, Hispanic students, and students who are from low-income backgrounds were substantially more likely to attend a school that is within close proximity to one of these toxic sites.

For black students, for example, they are 86% more likely than their white counterparts to be enrolled in one of these schools.

This further highlights the type of underlying inequity in educational opportunity, the opportunity to attend a school where there is a healthy learning environment and a safe learning environment.

What's the takeaway for policymakers? It's hard to fix problems that you don't see or understand.

And so our hope is that this study helps to paint a much clearer picture about the scale and urgency for ensuring that all students attend schools that provide safe and healthy learning environments.

Concrete steps that schools, municipalities, and states can take include increasing monitoring of air quality and soil quality and water quality in schools, being strategic about investing in modern school infrastructure, such as high efficiency modern HVAC systems, which can help to filter harmful pollutants in the air, and thinking carefully about opportunities to impact where schools and toxic sites are located.

caveats or limitations of the study?