A lawsuit has been filed by parents of Hartford, Connecticut, school children charging it’s unfair to limit the black and Hispanic enrollment of much-desired magnet schools to 75 percent of the student population.
The case was brought by Pacific Legal Foundation on behalf of nine Hartford parents against the state Department of Education’s race-based enrollment quotas and lottery.
PLF explains the magnet schools offer special instruction and opportunities and attract a diverse student body. They are described as far outpacing traditional public schools “in terms of student achievement.”
As a result, places in their classrooms are highly sought by students and parents.
But a quota system set up following a state Supreme Court ruling in 1996 that found unconstitutional de facto segregation in Hartford’s schools is creating issues.
The policy, which sought to end “racial isolation” in the city’s neighborhood schools, requires that 25 percent of the seats in magnet
