Virginia’s Top School Gets Free Pass on Controversial Race-Neutral Admissions Standards

February 23, 2024

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The Supreme Court has declined to challenge the allegedly diversity-neutral admissions policy at a high-performing public high school in Virginia, signaling that the Court is content to leave schools to work out how to attract and admit the student body they want without using traditional race-based indicators.

Lower Court Ruling Leaves Gray Area for Admissions Officers to Navigate

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School admissions officers must be creative and innovative in their processes while being sure not to break the law, which is very unclear in its specifications. The current admissions policy at the selective public high school in Northern Virginia does not explicitly consider race but still cultivates a diverse class.

Conservatives Alito and Thomas Want to Draw the Line More Clearly

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Conservative Justices Alito and Thomas dissented from the Court’s decision not to take up the case, sharing their dismay about passing on the opportunity to further eliminate race-biased admissions programs in the nation’s schools.

Admissions Overhaul at One of Nation’s Top High Schools

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The subject of the court case, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) in Alexandria, VA, is one of the nation’s top-performing high schools. In the wake of the 2020 death of George Floyd, TJ decided to review its admissions policy to offer more spots to diverse students who might not have received acceptance otherwise in the high-cost-of-living area of the DC Beltway.

Court Decision Allows Ability to Aim for Race Diversity Without Explicit Indicators

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The refusal of the Court leaves in place a lower court ruling that upholds the school’s revamped admissions process, which was altered to promote diversity without explicitly using racial criteria. If the highest court will not intervene, TJ’s example paves the way for schools to circumvent the intent of the 2023 court decision repealing the long-held processes of higher education admissions departments to admit students based on race as a factor.

Admissions Office Boosted Low-Income Applicants

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The overhaul of the admissions system entailed increasing equity by focusing on GPA, written assessments, and students’ life experiences instead of just standardized test scores while also providing advantages to applicants from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who may qualify for free or reduced-price lunch for example.

Eliminated Application Fee and Guaranteed Seats to Top Feeder School Students

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Moreover, TJ eliminated an application fee and now guarantees a certain number of admission seats for top students from feeder middle schools in the district. The Fairfax County School Board believes its admissions process is in line with the constitutional decision of the Supreme Court in 2023, as they do not explicitly use race as an indicator, and all qualified applicants are considered for admission along similar lines.

Opposed Parent Group Won Initial Lawsuit, But Lost on Appeal

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However, a parent group opposing the new admissions process, Coalition for TJ, sued the school over the changes, calling them unconstitutional racial discrimination. In the first ruling, the Coalition for TJ succeeded in their complaint, but that decision was overturned by a three-judge panel on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Alito and Thomas Wanted to Hear the Case

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U.S. Supreme Court Justices Alito and Thomas expressed their dissent in the decision not to hear the case, stating, “What the Fourth Circuit majority held, in essence, is that intentional racial discrimination is constitutional so long as it is not too severe.” Alito and Thomas claim the non-explicit ways that TJ was able to gather diversity information – through economic indicators and open response application questions – oppose the Supreme Court’s intent in the 2023 decision to bar race-based admissions policies.

Schools Uncertain How to Comply While Increasing Diversity

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Now that the Court has refused to engage with the TJ case, schools remain uncertain about how to legally pursue diversity goals without running afoul of the judiciary or bringing expensive and undesirable lawsuits to their doorstep.

Dissent Signals Ideological Divides Within Court

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Justices Alito and Thomas criticized the decision not to review the case, underscoring the ideological divides within the Court and the broader national debate over how to achieve educational equity and diversity.

Implications for Educational Institutions Nationwide

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The refusal to hear the case could have far-reaching implications for educational institutions nationwide as they navigate the complex landscape of admissions policies. Schools seeking to enhance diversity without directly considering race must now carefully craft their admissions policies.

Debate Over Race, Education, and Equality in America

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The Court’s decision not to hear the TJ case may encourage other institutions to adopt similar race-neutral policies. However, the risk of legal challenges remains, given the contentious and evolving nature of the debate over race, education, and equality in America.

Recent History of Supreme Court on Affirmative Action

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The recent history of the Supreme Court’s rulings on race-based admissions policies has been marked by significant decisions and nondecisions (choosing not to hear an appeal to the TJ policy) that leave admission departments in constitutional limbo with conflicting messages regarding just how much they can include racial considerations.