Feds urged to reopen LAUSD race-based program probe

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(The Center Square) – A nonprofit organization is urging the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to reopen a civil rights investigation into the Los Angeles Unified School District, alleging a race-based program violates federal law.

Defending Education requested this week that the department reinvestigate the district after its initial complaint, filed in July 2023, was dismissed.

The complaint targeted LAUSD’s Black Student Achievement Plan, launched in 2021 to improve academic outcomes and well-being for Black students through culturally responsive teaching and expanded family and community engagement.

In 2024, the Office for Civil Rights dismissed the complaint, finding “no evidence of a current violation.” 

“Reopening the investigation is necessary to determine whether LAUSD is continuing to administer race-based benefits to ensure the district is complying with federal civil rights law,” Defending Education told The Center Square in an email. 

The group also cited comments from a public meeting in which school board member Jackie Goldberg and the former superintendent, Alberto Carvalho, indicated that the program had not changed. 

"It's concerning when a board of education member and the superintendent both promise in a public meeting that nothing has changed in the context of a race-based program that the district knows is in violation of federal law,” Erika Sanzi, senior director of communications for Defending Education, said in a statement. 

According to Defending Education, LAUSD has allocated $50 million for the program in the 2025–2026 school year, bringing total funding to roughly $175 million.

LAUSD maintains that its programs comply with anti-discrimination laws.

All LAUSD programs and resources are available to students regardless of race or other protected characteristics, in line with district policy, Los Angeles Unified spokeswoman Jana Carter told The Center Square in a written statement.

“The concerns involving the District’s Black Student Achievement Plan were resolved with the U.S. Dept. of Education’s Office for Civil Rights,” Carter wrote. ���The Plan has been updated to ensure and make clear that services are open to all students, in compliance with state and federal law.”