Today, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it will open a Title VI investigation into the admissions process for the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ). This announcement came one day after Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares publicly issued findings by his office that the policy is racially discriminatory against Asian American students. The Virginia Attorney General’s findings, which spurred OCR’s action, are premised on legal arguments that were soundly rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of the Fourth Circuit’s ruling.
The admissions policy at issue was designed to ensure more equal access to TJ, which is a publicly-funded, selective high school, through a race-blind, merit-based process that would better identify qualified students. The admissions policy identifies student applicants by an applicant number only. Admissions officers do not know any applicant’s name, race, ethnicity, or sex. The revisions to TJ’s admissions policy that have been subject to legal challenges include admitting the top 1.5% of eligible 8th graders from each middle school, eliminating a $100 application fee and admissions test, and considering the disability, English proficiency, and socioeconomic status of student applicants.
The revisions to the admissions policy resulted in nearly 1,000 more student applications, when compared to the admissions cycle before the change. The mean grade point average among student applicants was higher than it had been in five years. In the first admissions cycle using the revised admissions process, Asian American students attending middle schools that had been historically underrepresented at TJ saw a sixfold increase in offers for admission. The number of low-income Asian American students admitted to TJ increased from only one student in 2020 to 51 students post-revision. Notably, the rate of Asian American students admitted to TJ has been consistent with historical trends going back at least 17 years.
“A federal appeals court has already concluded that the same allegations about TJ’s race-blind admissions championed by the Virginia Attorney General are unfounded. Not only is TJ’s admissions policy legal, it also improves access for all qualified students so that all applicants have a more equal opportunity to compete for admission,” said Michaele Turnage Young, LDF Senior Counsel and Co-Manager of the Equal Protection Initiative. “The U.S. Department of Education should not waste taxpayer dollars relitigating a matter resolved by a federal appeals court simply because it disagrees with that court’s ruling. Instead, both the Virginia Attorney General and U.S. Department of Education should be supporting efforts to ensure that all schools remove known barriers to equal opportunity that unfairly deny qualified students, including hardworking and underserved Black, Latino, and Asian American students, a fair shot at success.”
The Legal Defense Fund (LDF) along with its co-counsel filed multiple amicus briefs in support of equal access to TJ in the Coalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School Board case on behalf of a multiracial coalition of organizations, including TJ alumni, students, and families. LDF remains committed to defending equal opportunity in education and the civil rights of students.
###
Founded in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the nation’s first civil rights law organization. LDF’s Equal Protection Initiative seeks to defend and advance the proper interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause and anti-discrimination law so that we can all continue to advance equal opportunity for all. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the Legal Defense Fund or LDF. Please note that LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights.
