NSBA urges Supreme Court to uphold affirmative action

3/18/03 -- The U.S. Supreme Court's upcoming decision on the University of Michigan affirmative action cases could have a profound impact on racial diversity policies in public elementary and secondary schools.

NSBA submitted a brief to the Court in support of the university's policy to give a preference to minority applicants.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments April 1 in Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger. Both cases challenge the admissions policies at the University of Michigan under the 14th Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In Gratz, the plaintiffs are unsuccessful applicants who challenged the university's use of race as one of several factors in the admissions process. The plaintiffs, who are white, argued that lesser-qualified African-Americans were admitted. Grutter was filed by white applicants who failed to be accepted by the University of Michigan Law School.

Under the university's student selection process, points are assigned to candidates for having certain skills and attributes, and additional points are given to racial or ethic minorities.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court ruled in favor of the university last May in Grutter, agreeing with the university's contention that its interest in promoting the educational benefits of a diverse student body is a compelling state interest. It found the university's admissions policies are narrowly tailored to serve that interest.

A federal district court in Michigan had ruled earlier in Gratz, also in favor of the university.

The Supreme Court's decision could have a significant impact on whether public school districts can continue to use policies to promote racial diversity in such areas as determining admission to magnet school programs, drawing attendance boundary lines, limiting transfers to achieve balance among school buildings, and using admissions lotteries that give a preference to minorities.

NSBA's amicus brief, submitted to the Supreme Court in February, argues that school boards should be able to set policies to create a diverse learning environment because diversity benefits all children. Ten other education organizations signed on to NSBA's brief.

The brief asks the Court to "preserve the range of discretion historically conferred upon state and local education officials to promote their core educational goals, including the educational benefit of diversity."

Since the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954, the brief points out, "our nation has struggled, in fits and starts, to promote integration and equality of opportunity in public education, historically as a matter of law, and more recently as a matter of sound education policy."

But while the nation has become more diverse over the past few decades, studies have shown that public schools are becoming more segregated. This trend will continue, NSBA argues, unless state and local school officials are able to pursue multiple strategies to promote diversity and improve education for all children.

According to the brief, "race matters to the core mission of elementary and secondary education in at least two fundamental ways: (1) to ensure that all students are fully prepared to be productive citizens in our diverse democratic society, and (2) to ensure that all students have the opportunity necessary to achieve high standards."

According to the brief, there is strong evidence showing that diversity enhances students' civic values, improves student learning, improves preparation for employment, and increases educational opportunities.

Court decisions on diversity policies in K-12 schools have been mixed. In 1998, for example, a federal appeals court found unconstitutional the Boston school system's use of race in admitting students to the Boston Latin School, a prestigious "examination" school.

Another federal appeals court in 1999 found the Arlington County, Va., school system's policy for achieving racial diversity at a magnet school unconstitutional. The district used a weighted lottery system to create a student body reflecting the racial and ethnic diversity of the county's student population.

A federal appeals court in California in 1999 upheld the constitutionality of a lab school operated by the University of California-Los Angeles that used race as one factor in selecting students.