New Efforts to Promote Diversity & Reduce Racial Isolation in Education
Today, the Departments of Justice and Education released two new guidance documents – one for school districts and one for colleges and universities – detailing the flexibility that the Supreme Court has provided to educational institutions to promote diversity and, in the case of elementary and secondary schools, reduce racial isolation among students within the confines of the law.
The guidance makes clear that educators may permissibly consider the race of students in carefully constructed plans to promote diversity or, in K-12 education, to reduce racial isolation. It recognizes the learning benefits to students when campuses and schools include students of diverse backgrounds.
The guidance is primarily based on three Supreme Court decisions, Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 , Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger ,