School District Faces Racial Preference Lawsuit
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Category: News > City > Courts
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Comments (Berkeley Unified School District's race-based admissions policy came under attack yet again on Monday when the Pacific Legal Foundation appealed a 2007 court decision that ruled in favor of the district.
The public interest litigation firm, working on behalf of the American Civil Rights Foundation, filed a lawsuit against the school district in October 2006 for allegedly violating Proposition 209, a 1996 California law that prohibits racial preferences in schools.
But an Alameda County Superior Court judge decided in April that the district's elementary student assignment plan was legal and nondiscriminatory.
Student assignment relies on a diversity number given to the planning area the student lives in, with 445 areas total in the city.
The system is trying to increase diversity in the schools by using race as a factor in determining admissions, along with parent education and income level, said district spokesperson Mark Coplan.
"(The plan) doesn't actually involve going to the individual and saying you fit this profile. It doesn't look at the individual at all-it looks at areas," he said.
The Pacific Legal Foundation believes the district's use of race in student assignment is illegal and harmful, said Alan Foutz, the attorney leading the foundation's appeal.
"They want the racial composition for any particular elementary school to reflect the racial composition of the district as a whole. We believe this constitutes as racial balancing, which the Supreme Court constitutes as unconstitutional," Foutz said.
The district's placement system has already faced two lawsuits in the past four years.
"We've won in two courtrooms against the Pacific Legal Foundation in the past and we are very confident we will win again," Coplan said. "Not only have we won, but other districts are looking at ours because our plan is the plan that works without crossing (Proposition) 209."
The foundation is now requesting that the California Court of Appeals review the Alameda County judge's decision.
Neither the Pacific Legal Foundation nor Berkeley Unified School District said they intend to back down.
"This particular case is grounded solely in California law. We intend to go to California Supreme Court if necessary," Foutz said.
Contact Deepti Arora at darora@dailycal.org.
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