Lawsuit alleges bias against white students at L.A. Unified

Plaintiffs target long- standing efforts to help schools with high nonwhite enrollment.

- BY HOWARD BLUME

THE LAWSUIT claims that 600 campuses have an illegal advantage while about 100 do not. Above, first-graders at an L.A. Unified school.

KAYLA BARTKOWSKI Los Angeles Times

A long-running effort to help disadvantaged students of color in Los Angeles schools is under legal challenge by a group that claims the nation's second-largest school system is discriminating against white students.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court, targets efforts to bring resources to underserved schools going back decades and rooted in battles over forced and voluntary integration.

Filed in the Central District of California by the 1776 Project Foundation, the suit alleges that L.A. Unified discriminates against white students because of a program that provides more resources to schools where 70% or more of the students are nonwhite — which takes in the vast majority of district campuses.

The suit says the district “channels opportunities, preferences, funding and outreach primarily to specific racial groups, while systematically excluding or failing to allow other students who similarly could benefit from the same favorable academic support.”

The district is acting illegally under both the California and the federal Constitution, the suit alleges.

Without commenting on the lawsuit, district officials said: “Los Angeles Unified remains firmly committed to ensuring all students have meaningful access to services and enriching educational opportunities.”

L.A. school board member Tanya Ortiz Franklin said such a lawsuit overlooks the actual needs of students.

“My greatest fear is ... that poor children of color will continue to be overlooked, under-supported, and ultimately unable to achieve their greatest potential because they don’t yet have the time, money or access to amplify their needs on a similar scale,” Franklin said.