Civil Rights Organizations File Brief Defending Philadelphia School District’s Attempt to Make Its Admissions Process Fairer
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Read a PDF of our statement here1.
Philadelphia, PA – Today, a group of civil rights organizations filed an amicus (friend of the court) brief 2in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Sargent v. School District of Philadelphia. The brief defends the legality of changes to the admissions policies of Philadelphia’s criteria-based high schools that were designed to remedy unfair aspects of the process that disadvantaged many students of color. The groups filing today’s brief include the Legal Defense Fund (LDF)3, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC4, the American Civil Liberties 5Union (ACLU), LatinoJustice PRLDEF6, National Women’s Law Center7, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (“AALDEF”)8, Advocates for Trans Equality Education Fund (A4TE)9, Equal Justice Society10, and American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania (ACLU-PA)11.
The schools’ prior admissions process relied heavily on the discretion of principals. This resulted in denying admission to more than a fourth of the Black and Latino students who satisfied the minimum standardized test score requirement, while at the same time, students of other races who did not meet test criteria were admitted. In response to an independent study highlighting this differential treatment, the school district adopted race-neutral reforms to make the admissions process fairer. Those reforms were challenged by parents who claimed the fairer process discriminated against white and Asian American students.
The groups filing the brief urge the Third Circuit to affirm the lower court decision that upheld the admissions changes as lawful. The brief argues that the school district’s awareness of racial disparities and efforts to fix a policy that denied students an equal opportunity to compete for admission are fully consistent with, and indeed help advance, the principle of equal protection under law guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.
The brief also draws attention to Philadelphia’s deep history of school segregation and discrimination against Black students, and highlights that, as a recipient of federal funds, the School District is obligated to comply with anti-discrimination laws, including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and related regulations, which forbid policies that have an unjustified disparate impact based on race.
“When a school district’s policies and practices are excluding capable, highly qualified students, it is critically important—and lawful—that they adopt fairer admissions practices,” said Allison Scharfstein, Education Fellow at LDF. “The School District of Philadelphia’s attempt to reform their policies, improve access to education, and take steps to remedy discrimination against students of color should be lauded and upheld, not threatened and undermined by the courts.”
“Access to educational opportunities and diverse learning environments enriches all students. Too many of Philadelphia’s hardworking students have been denied this access over the years due to subjective selection criteria that is prone to bias,” said Shalaka Phadnis, Litigation Staff Attorney at Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC. “The School District of Philadelphia’s initial steps to reform and improve pathways for qualified but chronically underrepresented students to its magnet schools must be upheld by the court.”
“In Philadelphia and across the country, public school students are educated in classrooms that are often isolated along racial lines, even while the country grows more diverse. The Supreme Court has reaffirmed that school boards may pursue and ‘adopt general policies to encourage a diverse student body, one aspect of which is its racial composition,’” said Amanda Meyer, Senior Staff Attorney in the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program. “The School District of Philadelphia sought to address its own arbitrary barriers to admission to its criteria-based schools, which was an important step in opening up educational opportunities for many underrepresented students. All students deserve equitable access to education.”
“The school district should be applauded for standing up and addressing Philadelphia’s long history of school segregation and existing inequities in educational opportunities,” said Francisca Fajana, Director of Racial Justice Strategy, LatinoJustice PRLDEF. “We will continue to work to ensure equitable admission practices that remove barriers for Latino, Black, Asian American and other disadvantaged students so they can have a fair shot at a good education.”
You can read the full brief here2.
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Links
- https://www.naacpldf.org/wp-content/uploads/Sargent-v.-School-District-of-Philadelphia-Press-Release-Final66.pdf
- https://www.naacpldf.org/wp-content/uploads/2025-03-24-Sargent-Brief_AS-FINAL-FLAT45.pdf
- https://naacpldf.org/
- https://www.advancingjustice-aajc.org/
- https://www.aclu.org/
- https://www.latinojustice.org/
- https://nwlc.org/
- https://www.aaldef.org/
- https://transequality.org/
- https://equaljusticesociety.org/
- https://www.aclupa.org/