Nov 21, 2024 Story by: Editor
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has revised its $120 million Black Student Achievement Plan (BSAP) following a civil rights complaint from a Virginia-based conservative group, Parents Defending Education (PDE). The complaint argued that the program violated federal law by using race as a criterion for participation.
Initially designed to address academic disparities for Black students, BSAP aimed to improve outcomes in reading and math by providing additional tutors and teacher training. However, PDE’s complaint alleged that the program’s race-based criteria for admission were discriminatory. “At the bottom, the Black Student Achievement Plan and its benefits are open to some students but not others — and that exclusion is solely based on an individual’s race,” PDE stated.
In response, LAUSD announced that it would no longer consider race when selecting schools for participation. Superintendent Alberto Carvalho emphasized that the program’s resources and focus would remain intact. “Our solution is one that preserves the funding, the concentration of attention and resources on the same students and same schools,” Carvalho told the Los Angeles Times.
Despite these assurances, the program’s future remains uncertain, as it could face additional legal challenges. PDE, which has filed similar complaints against more than ten school districts nationwide, did not respond to requests for comment. The group’s website describes it as a “national grassroots organization working to reclaim our schools from activists promoting harmful agendas,” including critical race theory and restorative justice.
PDE’s board includes Edward Blum, known for spearheading the 2023 Supreme Court case that ended affirmative action in college admissions. PDE argued in its complaint to the federal Office for Civil Rights (OCR) that BSAP violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964. OCR dismissed the complaint after LAUSD removed race as a factor, but PDE could potentially revisit the issue.
The BSAP initiative, which has been in place for five years, previously focused on schools with significant Black student populations, deploying counselors and social workers at approximately 50 campuses. This year, Black students in the district outperformed their peers statewide in math and reading assessments, making gains that outpaced other student groups.
Nevertheless, the revised policy has sparked criticism. Teachers, students, and activists protested at an October 22 board meeting, calling for the reinstatement of race as a criterion for allocating BSAP resources. An online campaign urges the district to prioritize Black students for the program.
University of Southern California education professor Julie Slayton noted that while the explicit mention of race has been removed, the program can still prioritize schools needing the most support. “They’ll take away the language of ‘Black,’ ” Slayton said, “But it doesn’t have to change, profoundly, the way that they’re thinking about the distribution of these resources and the schools that will receive them.”
LAUSD maintains its commitment to the program, with officials pledging to sustain BSAP’s funding and scope. However, the controversy underscores the tension between local educational priorities and external political pressures. Source: The 74
