The Los Angeles School District Ends Black Student Achievement Program

PublishedOctober 16, 2024

“They’ll sit by idly when there’s a disproportionate number of Black people in jails and prisons, They’ll sit by silently when large numbers of Black students are misplaced in special education classrooms. But yet, when there’s a remedy, an attempt to combat that, then all of a sudden, there’s this anger and lawsuits. That’s the part that disappoints.” – Tyrone Howard, UCLA Education Professor via the Los Angeles Times

South Los Angeles, California—The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has announced plans to restructure its $130 million Black Student Achievement Program (BSAP), caving to pressure from a Virginia based conservative group, who filed a complaint with the Federal Office for Civil Rights.

Parents Defending Education, a Virginia-based right-wing group, argued that LAUSD’s Black Student Achievement Program violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment by providing race-based support.

This move by LAUSD is more than betrayal and backtracks on the districts critical efforts to uplift Black students, who continue to be left behind in a system plagued by historic disinvestment and systemic discrimination.

The decision to dilute the program’s focus on Black students — the very group it was designed to support — is unacceptable. Black students in Los Angeles have long endured the devastating effects of inequitable education policies, and instead of intensifying efforts to address these inequities, LAUSD is backing away.

“The Los Angeles Unified School District is offering race-based programming for some students that is not open to all,” the group wrote in an online post, accusing the district of breaking the law.

It’s a twisted narrative that willfully ignores the very real inequities Black students face.

Despite the complaint being dismissed by the Office for Civil Rights in July, LAUSD has chosen to overhaul BSAP, a cowardly concession to conservative pressure. The district will now focus on non-racial criteria for determining which schools receive funding, diluting the program’s intent to support Black students specifically.

BSAP, which was first approved by the LAUSD Board of Education in 2020 with $130 million in funding, was intended to provide additional resources to schools serving nearly a third of the district’s Black student population. Now, with the program gutted, Black students stand to lose critical support.

“There’s a lot of historical and systemic inequities that, if we’re not going to address them, Black children are going to continue to fail,” Ebony Batiste, a restorative justice teacher at 74th Street Elementary School tells the Los Angeles Times. “Sometimes I feel like every time we try, our hands are tied behind our back, and we’re not being allowed to help the children that need help.”

Superintendent Alberto Carvalho defended the overhaul, stating the revised plan would still support Black students along with other groups facing similar challenges. But the reality is clear: A program designed to address the unique challenges faced by Black students has now been stripped of its core mission.