A group of Boston parents' fight against a selective schools admissions policy faces a significant setback at the nation's highest court.
According to Fox News, the Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Boston parents who claimed that a temporary admissions policy discriminated against White and Asian students at three prestigious Boston public schools.
The case centered on the Boston Parent Coalition for Academic Excellence's challenge to a 2020 policy that replaced entrance examinations with a system based on grade point averages and ZIP codes at Boston Latin Schools, Boston Latin Academy, and the John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics and Science. The policy change occurred during the pandemic when in-person testing became impractical.
Justice Neil Gorsuch explained the court's decision not to hear the case, noting that the controversial policy had already been replaced. The temporary measure lasted only one year before reverting to a standardized testing-based system for the 2022-2023 school year.
The decision, however, did not receive unanimous support from the justices. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito voiced their dissent, expressing concerns about the policy's constitutional implications. Justice Alito stated:
I would reject root and branch this dangerously distorted view of disparate impact. The Court, however, fails to do so today, so I must respectfully dissent.
The case highlighted ongoing tensions in educational policy following the Supreme Court's landmark 2023 ruling that declared race-based college admissions unconstitutional.
The Boston Parent Coalition for Academic Excellence initiated legal proceedings in February 2021, representing 14 anonymous students. Their efforts were unsuccessful in lower courts, which determined that the admissions criteria were racially neutral.
The Boston School Committee defended its position by emphasizing the policy's temporary nature. They argued that the case had become irrelevant since the challenged policy ended before the Supreme Court's affirmative action decision in 2023.
The committee pointed out that affected students had opportunities to reapply under the new admissions process in 2022. This process, which returned to standardized testing, has not faced legal challenges from the parent coalition.
The Supreme Court's rejection of this case follows its significant 6-3 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which fundamentally changed the landscape of educational admissions policies across the country.
The Boston schools case represents ongoing attempts to navigate admissions policies in the wake of the court's affirmative action ruling. Educational institutions nationwide continue to grapple with creating fair and equitable admissions processes while complying with legal requirements.
The Boston Parent Coalition for Academic Excellence's legal challenge against the temporary ZIP code-based admissions policy has reached its conclusion with the Supreme Court's rejection. The case originated from a pandemic-era policy affecting three prestigious Boston public schools that temporarily replaced entrance exams with a system based on grades and ZIP codes.
The Supreme Court's decision not to hear the case effectively ends this particular legal battle while the schools continue to operate under their current standardized testing-based admissions system. This outcome reflects the court's view that the temporary nature of the challenged policy and its subsequent replacement diminished the need for judicial review.
