April 10, 2009 - Posted by Isha Mehmood
In a unanimous decision, a state appeals court ruled recently that a Berkeley Unified School District diversity plan that considers neighborhood racial composition for student placement does not violate Proposition 209.
Proposition 209, voted into law in 1996, is an amendment to the California constitution that bans the consideration of race, gender, ethnicity, and national origin in public hiring, contracting, and admissions to public colleges and universities.
The Berkeley policy considers the racial makeup of neighborhoods as one factor in determining which school in the district a student will attend. The school district also considers two other factors – average household income and average education level of adults in the neighborhood where the student lives.
The court said that the policy does not violate Proposition 209 because "all students in a given residential area are treated equally – regardless of the student's individual race or other personal characteristics."
The decision, though likely to be appealed to the California Supreme Court, is positive for supporters of equal opportunity and provides school districts with some flexibility in ensuring that their schools are diverse.
Categories: Education, Equal Opportunity
