New data from the Atlanta Regional Commission examines how the racial makeup of several metro Atlanta school districts has changed over the last two decades — and the Gwinnett County numbers are dramatic.
In 1995, 80 percent of Gwinnett County Public Schools students were white. By 2015, that number dropped to just 26 percent, according to the ARC's data.
Over the same time period, the school system's share of Hispanic students increased sevenfold — from 4 percent to 29 percent — and the proportion of black students more than tripled, from 9 percent to 31 percent.
In the chart, you can see the significant shift — the far left bar, which represents white students, shrinks while the others close in.
In this alternate view, you get a more dramatic side-by-side glimpse at each demographic's change over time.
All of this, of course, mirrors the ongoing demographic shift in Gwinnett County as a whole. Gwinnett became a "majority minority" county — meaning non-white residents account for more than half of the population — in 2010, and the ARC projects that the county will have more Hispanic residents than white ones by 2040.
» Explore The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's interactive guide to Georgia schools here
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