The U.S. Department of Justice has taken steps to intervene in a lawsuit that questions a longstanding race-based initiative within the Los Angeles Unified School District, claiming that the policy breaches the Constitution by differentiating treatment among students based on their race.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California by the nonprofit 1776 Project Foundation, targets LAUSD’s Predominately Hispanic, Black, Asian, and Other (PHBAO) Program. The program classifies students and neighborhoods by race and uses those classifications to determine school funding allocations and admissions preferences for magnet programs.
In a complaint seeking intervention, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division argues that the program unlawfully separates students into two broad categories — “Anglo,” defined as White, and all other racial groups — and provides benefits to schools and students in areas with less than 30% White residents.
As per the filing, schools identified as PHBAO are allocated extra funding aimed at decreasing student-teacher ratios by 5.5 students and enhancing parent-teacher conferences. Additionally, students from these schools are granted a magnet school admissions preference similar to that offered to students from overcrowded campuses.
Federal officials contend that the district’s policy effectively regards attendance at schools with a majority of non-White students as a disadvantage akin to overcrowding.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi stated in a press release that equal treatment under the law is a constitutional obligation for public schools. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, who heads the Civil Rights Division, mentioned that the department would contest policies that categorize students based on race.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California remarked that the district’s desegregation-era policies, which have been in place for nearly sixty years, have become unconstitutional.
Should it be approved, the federal government’s involvement would significantly bolster the legal challenge against one of the largest public school districts in the nation.
You can view the motion to intervene here and the proposed complaint here.
