Civil rights group back race-neutral school admissions policies

Black, Latino, Asian American organizations seek equal access to middle school magnet programs for underserved students

A group of civil rights organizations has filed an amicus brief in support of dismissing a lawsuit that seeks to prevent school districts from promoting equality for all students through race-neutral admissions policies.

Filed on behalf of Black, Latino, and Asian American organizations, the amici curiae also have a pending Motion to Intervene as defendants alongside Montgomery County Board of Education, Maryland, if the case moves forward.

The revised, race-neutral admissions policies in question remove barriers to equal access to middle school magnet programs for Black, Latino, and underserved Asian American students, according to a press release from the Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC).

The revisions include evidence-based reforms, such as universal screening of all students and a lottery of all qualified applicants, it said.

Read: AAJC honors Indian American Neal Katyal with ‘The American Courage Award 2017’ (October 6, 2017)

Along with a planned expansion of key elements of the magnet school experience across more home schools, the challenged policies place all students on more equal footing to access educational opportunities within Montgomery County schools.

The current lawsuit is a dangerous effort to block progress towards greater access to important educational resources for Black, Latino, underserved Asian American, and other disadvantaged students, AAJC said.

AAJC, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), Latino Justice PRLDEF, and Ballard Spahr LLP filed the amicus brief on Feb 28 in support of dismissing Association for Education Fairness v. Montgomery County Board of Education.

The amici curiae are the Montgomery County Branch of the NAACP; Montgomery County Progressive Asian American Network; Identity, Inc.; CASA, Inc.; and Asian American Youth Leadership, Empowerment, and Development.

On Dec 20, 2021, the Plaintiff filed an amended complaint alleging that the latest admissions regime, albeit still race neutral, intentionally discriminated against Asian American students.

“Yet another lawsuit like this one in Montgomery County attempts to use Asian Americans as a racial wedge and is meant to deny a fair opportunity to all students from communities of color, including Black, Latino, and underserved Asian Americans,” said Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC’s staff attorney, Eri Andriola.

“School districts must be able to address inequities and implement policies that will expand educational opportunities so that all of students have a well-deserved chance to thrive in our education system.”

“Our mission to support low-income and underserved Asian American youth is strengthened by MCPS’ admissions program and would provide opportunities that have historically been absent to students we serve, including those who are limited English proficient, low-income, and first-generation immigrants,” said Asian American LEAD’s executive director Akil Vohra.

A 2016 study commissioned by the school board identified several factors preventing students from enjoying equal access to the middle school magnet program and recommended corrective action, according to AAJC.

In response, the school district 1) implemented universal screening, which resulted in the consideration of all fifth graders instead of only a small subset; 2) locally normed Cognitive Abilities Test (CogAT) scores so that students’ scores were only compared to students from elementary schools with similar levels of poverty; and 3) prioritized admission for students who lacked a “peer group” of students with similar intellectual aptitude at their home middle schools.

On Sep 1, 2020, the Plaintiff sued the county Board of Education, alleging that the admissions criteria changes, albeit race neutral, intentionally discriminated against Asian American applicants in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.

Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the district has not used the challenged admissions criteria because it was no longer possible to administer the CogAT.

Instead, it has used a lottery to randomly select students who meet highly selective academic standards (based on locally normed MAP-M and MAP-R test scores, among other criteria).

Read: Civil rights groups seek race-neutral admission policies (March 6, 2022)

“The Montgomery County NAACP got involved in this lawsuit because educational equity is a cornerstone of democracy,” said Linda Plummer, President of the Montgomery County branch of the NAACP.

“We support MCPS’ efforts to reform a magnet school admission system that did not provide meaningful access to many Black, Brown and low-income students.”

“Public schools exist to serve the entire community, including underserved Asian American students,” said Janelle Wong, board member of the Montgomery County Asian American Progressive Network.

“As such, we strongly support efforts to increase access to magnet programs for students who have faced unfair barriers to educational resources, especially low-income students of color.”