Extra

The Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) emerged victorious when an Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the school district Monday in a suit, American Civil Rights Foundation vs. Berkeley Unified School District, brought by Sacramento based Pacific Legal Foundation (PCL). PCL had sued BUSD in October, charging the district with violating California’s Proposition 209 by racially discriminating among students during placements at elementary schools and at programs at Berkeley High. 

“The judge ruled that the student assignment system that we apply in our elementary schools is legal and that our integration system is fair and legal,” School Superintendent Michele Lawrence told to the Planet Tuesday. 

“I am delighted that he ruled in our favor and I think that his ruling is consistent with the earlier ruling which was also in our favor. I hope that Pacific Legal Foundation will now leave Berkeley alone.” 

Berkeley Unified was sued in 2003 by PCL on behalf of a parent who charged the district with race-based assignment of students in a different and earlier Berkeley program.  

The case was dismissed by Judge James Richman who said that voluntary desegregation plans or ‘race-conscious’ school assignment systems were not specifically prohibited by Prop. 209. 

The attack on BUSD by PCL last year came on the 10th anniversary of Prop. 209.  

Speaking to the Planet in an interview in October, Lawrence said that PCL had used the Berkeley schools to make a “public splash” during the anniversary. 

“BUSD stands firmly by its elementary student assignment plan for Berkeley elementary schools,” she said. 

The school district had also been trying hard to pass Measure A -- a school parcel tax -- at that point. 

The lawsuit alleged that BUSD “uses race as a factor to determine where students are assigned to public schools and to determine whether they gain access to special educational programs.” 

PLF attorney Paul J. Beard said in a statement in October that concerns were: the elementary student assignment plan for Berkeley Elementary Schools, the admissions policy for Berkeley High School’s small schools and academic programs; and the admissions policy for Berkeley High School’s AP Pathways Project.  

“These plans and policies use students’ skin color to help determine how individual students will be treated,” said Beard. “That’s unfair and transmits a harmful message to our kids that skin color matters—and, under Proposition 209, it also happens to be illegal.” 

Beard could not be contacted before press time Tuesday. 

A provision of the California Constitution, Proposition 209 was enacted by California voters in 1996 and “prohibits discrimination or preferences based on race or sex in public education, employment, and contracting.” 

The assignment system in BUSD lets parents put in their first, second and third school choices, and then a computer runs a lottery to give the final placement. The lottery takes into account factors such as race, ethnicity, student background and parental income and education.