Parents sue Boston Public Schools over racial discrimination at elite public schools
July 17, 2025
New lawsuit challenges Boston Public Schools’ new admissions plan for elite exam schools, alleging it uses socioeconomic tiers as a proxy for race in violation of the Constitution.
Boston; July 17, 2025: The Boston Parent Coalition for Academic Excellence has filed a federal lawsuit challenging Boston Public Schools’ (BPS) new “tier” admissions plan, which replaces competitive, merit-based admissions at Boston Latin School, Boston Latin Academy, and the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics & Science with a socioeconomic quota system designed to serve as a racial proxy.
“Boston Public Schools cannot launder racial quotas through socioeconomic labels,” said PLF senior attorney Chris Kieser. “The Equal Protection Clause forbids government discrimination, whether done openly or by proxy. We intend to restore a level playing field for every Boston student.”
Until 2020, seats at the three exam schools were awarded strictly based on a student’s composite score — a combination of GPA and entrance exam results. Seeking to achieve a different racial make-up in these schools, BPS scrapped the test in fall 2020 — first imposing a ZIP Code quota and later implementing the current tier system after the ZIP Code system was challenged in federal court.
Under the current system, admissions for white students have sharply declined — dropping to 24%, 5 points below their share of the applicant pool. This is by design. The cutoff score to enter Boston Latin this fall was 99.1 for applicants from Tier 8, a majority white group, but only 73.5 for those from Tier 3.
Represented free of charge by Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), the Boston Parent Coalition has filed a federal lawsuit, arguing that the School Committee intentionally designed the new admissions plan to achieve a predetermined racial balance in defiance of the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. Justice Samuel Alito has twice warned that similar reasoning is “a virus that may spread if not promptly eliminated.”
Students should compete based on hard work and talent, not on the neighborhood they live in or the color of their skin. Boston’s plan punishes children for factors they cannot control and violates the Constitution’s promise of equality.
The case is Boston Parent Coalition for Academic Excellence v. Boston School Committee.
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Pacific Legal Foundation is a national nonprofit law firm that defends Americans threatened by government overreach and abuse. Since our founding in 1973, we challenge the government when it violates individual liberty and constitutional rights. With active cases in 34 states plus Washington, D.C., PLF represents clients in state and federal courts, with 18 wins of 20 cases litigated at the U.S. Supreme Court.