Matthew Barakat
Associated Press
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — A federal judge ruled Friday that a Virginia school system unlawfully discriminated against Asian-Americans in overhauling admissions policies at an elite public school.
A ruling by U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton found that an impermissible “racial balance” was at the heart of overhauling the admissions program at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. The school is often rated as one of the best or one of the best public schools in the country, and places are highly competitive.
In 2020, the Fairfax County School Board made significant improvements to the school’s admissions process. Standardized testing, a key part of the admissions process, was eliminated and replaced by a system of setting aside an equal number of TJ places at every middle school in the county, among other changes.
In his ruling, Hilton wrote: “Discussions about changes in admissions have been infected from the start by discussions about racial balance.”
Although the school has enjoyed a top-notch academic reputation for decades, black and Hispanic students are severely underrepresented in the student body.
TJ’s current freshman class is the first to be admitted under the new policy, reflecting significant changes in racial makeup. Asian representation dropped from 73% to 54%. The percentage of black students increased to 7 percent from 1 percent last year. Hispanic representation increased from 3% to 11%.
The school system insists its new admissions policy is race-neutral. Among other things, they point out, the team members evaluating the applications didn’t even know the race of the students they were evaluating.
The school system also argues that efforts to increase black and Hispanic representation are legally permissible as long as the school board does not show a willingness to harm Asian Americans.
John Foster, an attorney for the school system, said the school board will consider appealing Hilton’s ruling.
“The new process takes no account of race, gender and national origin, and provides a place at TJ for the most talented students in each secondary school,” Foster said in a written statement.
However, Hilton said the context in which the school board acted suggests race was a top consideration. He pointed to the death of George Floyd in May 2020, prompting a national call for racial justice. He also noted that the Virginia Legislature and the Department of Education are pushing schools like TJ, known as “Governor’s Schools” in Virginia, to develop plans to quickly address the shortage of black and Hispanic students.
“Throughout the process, board members and senior FCPS officials indicated that they wished to re-admit TJ because they were dissatisfied with the school’s racial makeup,” Hilton wrote.
In a statement, the TJ Alliance, a parent coalition that challenged the admissions process in court with the help of the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation, said in a statement, “To Judge Claude Hilton’s unequivocal renunciation of racism and discrimination and his commitment to equality. Excited for a strong defense. . . ”
Hilton’s ruling comes about a month after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a similar case brought by Asian-American families over Harvard’s admissions policies.
