California Attorney General submits amicus brief supporting race-neutral admissions policies

California Attorney General Rob Bonta on Monday submitted an amicus brief in a U.S. Court of Appeals case alongside 15 other state attorneys general supporting a Virginia school board’s race-neutral admissions policy.

Bonta is urging the appellate court to overturn the district court’s ruling in TJ v. Fairfax County School Board, which he said in a statement “threatens to seriously impair the ability of states to implement effective, inclusive policies for all individuals, regardless of race, socioeconomic status or background.”

In question are the admission policies of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, which has consistently ranked as one of the best public high schools in the nation, yet only 2% of Black students and 3% of Latino students from the surrounding middle schools were admitted. In response to the inequity, the Fairfax County School Board instituted a policy in 2020 to increase outreach to underrepresented middle schools, eliminate the application fee and grant admission to the top 1.5% of eligible eighth graders from each middle school.

That policy resulted in a dramatic increase in Jefferson High’s enrollment of Black, Latino and economically disadvantaged students. However, it was struck down in a federal district court.