Overview
- A federal lawsuit filed in the Central District of California by the 1776 Project Foundation seeks a permanent injunction blocking LAUSD from using race-based preferences in operations, funding, advertising, or admissions.
- The filing targets the PHBAO designation, under which schools must keep student–teacher ratios at 25:1 or less, provide four extra priority points for magnet applications, and hold at least two parent–teacher conferences each year.
- The complaint says more than 600 LAUSD schools are classified as predominantly non-white, compared with fewer than 100 that are not, creating unequal access to benefits for students at non-PHBAO campuses.
- LAUSD declined to discuss specifics of the case and said it remains committed to ensuring all students have meaningful access to services and educational opportunities.
- Civil-rights advocates and education scholars criticized the suit as mischaracterizing remedies rooted in 1970s desegregation orders, while the plaintiffs include a parent alleging a child was denied a magnet seat due to lacking PHBAO priority points.