While the policy has since been replaced, a group of white and Asian parents sued the district, claiming that although it appeared to be race neutral, in practice it disproportionately harmed them and violated their rights under the Equal Protection Clause. The families were seeking damages, as well as spots at the schools for five students who argued they would have been accepted under the pre-COVID policy. 

The decision, handed down earlier this month, lets stand a lower court鈥檚 ruling that the policy did not violate the rights of white and Asian students. It was closely watched for signs of how eager the high court might be to apply to K-12 admissions elements of its landmark 2023 decision overturning affirmative action in higher education.

In a five-page dissent, justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas said that in declining to hear the case, the court 鈥渞efused to correct a glaring constitutional error that threatens to perpetuate race-based affirmative action in defiance of鈥� that earlier case, Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College and SFFA v. University of North Carolina.

Writing in favor of the decision, Justice Neil Gorsuch said the fact that the policy is no longer in place at least partially convinced him it was unnecessary to hear the case. That being said, he cautioned against reading into his reasoning an approval of the lower court鈥檚 decision and encouraged future judges to consider the concerns raised in his fellow justices鈥� dissent. 

Advocacy organizations in favor of race-conscious policies considered the court鈥檚 decision a victory.

鈥淓ver since the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 decision in the Harvard affirmative action case, right-wing groups have unsuccessfully tried to extend its reach to challenge diversity, equity, and inclusion,鈥� Iv谩n Espinoza-Madrigal, executive director of said in a statement. 鈥淏ut today鈥檚 action by the Supreme Court sends a clear signal: there鈥檚 no appetite for extending the affirmative action decision beyond its narrow scope in college admissions.鈥�

Bethany Li, executive director of The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, was part of a multi-racial coalition of community organizations and families that joined Boston Public Schools in defending the policy. She felt it was particularly important for her organization to get involved to signal that the Asian community is not a monolith and that many support affirmative action.

鈥淎sian Americans wanted to very visibly show that we were standing in solidarity with the Black and Latino community on this issue,鈥� she said in an interview with 蜜桃影视. 鈥淚 think there’s always this story that’s told that Asian Americans, for example, aren’t as supportive of affirmative action, or aren’t supportive of policies that increase diversity 鈥� and that’s actually not the case.鈥�

Li also argued that the challenge should have been dismissed long ago, since the policy is no longer in place. Under the new policy, students receive an admissions score 鈥� their GPA accounts for 70% and a standardized test for the remaining 30%. Students may be eligible to receive additional points if they meet specific criteria, like living in public housing or attending a school with an enrollment of 40% or more economically disadvantaged students.

Boston Public Schools did not respond to a request for comment.

Christopher Kieser, a senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, which represented the plaintiffs, pushed back on the defunct-policy argument. 

鈥淚t was unfortunate to see that that was cited as a reason not to take the case,鈥� he said, adding that 鈥渁ctually this is a really good vehicle to address this question, because it’s a really concrete thing. There’s no future moving parts that are going to be coming up. We already know what happened, and all we’re asking for is to send it back and for the district court to be able to give a remedy to these five kids.鈥�

Historically, the three schools 鈥� Boston Latin Academy, the John D. O鈥橞ryant School of Mathematics and Science, and Boston Latin School 鈥� solely considered a student鈥檚 grades and a single standardized test score to determine admissions. Critics had long argued this criteria meant few Black and Latino students were selected for the coveted positions, and the Boston School Committee 鈥� the governing body for Boston Public Schools 鈥� began considering amendments to the policy in 2019.

These changes came to fruition in the 2021-22 school year, when Boston Public Schools temporarily suspended the entrance exam, and instead prioritized grades and geography. Under the new, two-part policy, one-fifth of seats were given to the top academic students across the city. For the remaining 80% of the entering class, geography was included in admissions criteria: each of the city鈥檚 zip codes had the opportunity to send their students with the highest GPAs, a move meant to diversify the schools. 

Advocates say the policy was a success: between the 2020鈥�21 and 2021鈥�22 school years, Black students increased from 14% to 23% of total enrollment and Latino students grew from 21% to 23%, while white students decreased from 40% to 31% and Asian students shrank from 21% to 18%. A lower court ruled that this did not disproportionately harm Asian and white students, since they were still overrepresented in the sought-after schools compared to their numbers in Boston Public Schools’ overall enrollment. In his dissent, Alito wrote, 鈥淭his reasoning is indefensible.鈥�

This type of case is not unique: earlier this year the firm representing the Asian and white families in Boston asked the high court to hear a similar one surrounding an admissions policy at a prestigious magnet school in The court ultimately denied that request as well, but the Pacific Legal Foundation is currently litigating other cases against admissions policies in Maryland鈥檚 Montgomery County Public Schools and in New York City. 

New York City鈥檚 eight specialized high schools 鈥� including Stuyvesant High School and The Bronx High School of Science 鈥� are of particular prominence. They almost exclusively only look at a student鈥檚 score on a single standardized test to determine admissions, which critics say drives lopsided demographics. Last spring, just 4.5% of offers went to Black students and 7.6% went to Hispanic students. In 2024, only 10 Black students were admitted to Stuyvesant’s first-year class of 744 in Lower Manhattan, according to reporting by  

In attempting to bring this latest batch of cases to the Supreme Court, plaintiffs were hoping to establish a similar precedent in K-12 schools as was laid out in Students for Fair Admissions.

鈥淥verall the precedent we want to set is that you can’t make race-based decisions in K-12 admissions 鈥� whether you do it through a proxy or you do it explicitly, it’s the same,鈥� said Kieser.

鈥淲e鈥檙e going to keep going as much as we can,鈥� he added. 鈥淟ike I said, we’ve had issues where it’s taken us 10, 12 times to ask the court to hear a case before they’ve done it. So it’s not over.鈥�

In Boston’s mayoral primary, city councilors Michelle Wu and Annissa Essaibi George , respectively winning 33.3 percent and 22.5 percent of the vote. Acting Mayor Kim Janey, the first woman and first African American to serve as the city’s mayor, finished in fourth place. Wu and Essaibi George will proceed to the general election November 2.

On September 9, public schools in Boston will open for the 2021-22 academic year 鈥� the first since last March, locals hope, not to be irreversibly damaged by the COVID-19 pandemic. Five days later, the city will hold the first round of a two-step election process to decide its next mayor, whose time in office may come to be defined by the performance of a school district that has struggled in recent years.

Those two deadlines are clearly connected in the minds of the electorate. According to conducted by Suffolk University and the Boston Globe, schools were rated the most important issue by about 18 percent of likely voters across the city, ahead of the economy, crime, and police reform and practically identical to the top-ranking items of housing (20 percent) and racial justice (19 percent). In areas of the city that have historically posted some of the highest levels of voter turnout, K-12 was ranked the most important issue by far.

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David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, observed that the public is drawing connections between the disparate K-12 issues, from police officers in schools to COVID remediation, in a way that could make education 鈥渢he issue of the year.鈥�

鈥淵ou’ve got a constant thread where people are recognizing how important education is, and I think you’re going to see it continue to bubble up through the school reopening and even beyond,鈥� Paleologos said.

Seven candidates have emerged to replace former Mayor Marty Walsh, who was appointed U.S. Secretary of Labor in March. That group, which will be winnowed to two finalists after the preliminary election on September 14, is striking for its representative diversity. Among the favorites to compete in November are three city councillors who would each be the first woman and first person of color elected to lead Boston. (A fourth, Acting Mayor Kim Janey, already set both precedents when she was elevated to the position this spring and is seeking her first elected term).

Whoever wins will face the significant challenge of turning around schools in the birthplace of American public education. Boston Public Schools, once considered something of an exemplar among major urban districts, was widely seen as regressing even before the emergence of the coronavirus. While local experts generally acknowledge the need for improvement, much of the public鈥檚 attention has been directed at an acrimonious debate over the admissions practices of the city鈥檚 three competitive-admissions schools. But the comprehensive improvements needed to lift the performance of the rest of the system, and arrest its persistent decline in enrollment, haven鈥檛 led the discussion.

Most of the bandwidth among parents is also consumed by concerns about the pandemic, says Paul Reville, Massachusetts鈥檚 former education secretary. The increased salience of K-12 schools measured in the Suffolk poll results from a desperate desire to return to the pre-COVID state of existence, when families, schools, and employers could take the school day for granted, he said; but the next mayor will need to accomplish a great deal more than negotiating a return to the status quo ante.

鈥淲e’re not debating strategy so much right now as we’re debating survival issues,鈥� Reville said. 鈥淎re we going to open or not? Will we have enough room for all the students? Will they have to wear masks? What happens if the current spike in numbers keeps going? It’s hard to concentrate on the strategic when the day-to-day is so challenging.鈥�

Critical audit

March 13, 2020, was the most significant day in the recent history of Boston Public Schools. That Friday, then-Mayor Walsh and Boston schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius announced that the district would close all buildings to in-person learning for six weeks. In fact, the initial reopening date would come and go, with most students stuck at home for the better part of a year.

But another crucial development had been announced just hours earlier, when local officials signalled that the district would be entering a unique governing partnership with the state of Massachusetts to improve learning outcomes for students. The announcement followed the release of of Boston鈥檚 academic performance, which found that one-third of its students attended schools ranking in the bottom 10 percent statewide. State authorities would provide support to the system going forward, but also hold it responsible for meeting specific performance goals.

The new arrangement was especially startling given Boston鈥檚 reputation as a comparatively high-flying district among its large, urban peers. Beginning in the 1990s and early 2000s, national observers the steady growth in student test scores, which was widely attributed to then-Superintendent Tom Payzant鈥檚 efforts to restructure curricula and focus on literacy instruction. While large gaps still separated the city鈥檚 underprivileged children from their peers in nearby suburbs, the arrow was definitively pointing upwards.

The progress about a decade ago, according to a report by the research organization Bellwether Education Partners, as the district cycled rapidly through a sequence of short-lived and interim superintendents before landing on Cassellius in 2019. The 2020 鈥渕emorandum of understanding鈥� 鈥� which created a substantial role for state oversight while stopping short of a takeover 鈥� might have offered an opportunity to reclaim momentum. But according to John Portz, a political scientist at Northeastern University, it was instantaneously overshadowed by COVID.

鈥淭hat would have been a key jumping-off point, if you will, for where education was going to go,鈥� Portz said. 鈥淏ut it just got totally swallowed up by the pandemic. Thinking back, no one has talked about it, and I wonder whether it’s simply a dead letter at this point.鈥�

Exam school admissions

The prolonged closure of the city鈥檚 125 schools pushed systemic recovery far down the agenda, with a proposed as Walsh and Cassellius attempted to chart a course to safe reopening. The process became bitterly political at times, as when the Boston Teachers Union passed in Cassellius last December, citing unequal access to ventilation, testing, and protective gear.

Once K-8 schools returned, attention shifted again to the city鈥檚 public 鈥渆xam schools鈥�; of the three, the best known is Boston Latin, whose lofty alumni roll extends from Ben Franklin and John Hancock to many present-day elites in media, politics, and business. A decades-old debate over the school鈥檚 rigorous admissions test was first reignited in 2017, when that just one-quarter of Latin鈥檚 students were African American or Hispanic 鈥� compared with roughly three-quarters of Boston students overall.

Hearings held on the subject last fall by the Boston School Committee 鈥� a seven-member body appointed by the mayor 鈥� quickly became heated, with many parents arguing in favor of the existing admissions requirements and others calling for the introduction of criteria that might increase the odds of disadvantaged students winning seats. The debate grew so charged that three members after it was discovered that they had mocked and insulted Asian American parents and those living in the predominantly white neighborhood of West Roxbury. Still, the committee to approve a new admissions system that will decrease the importance of exam scores relative to school grades and reserve more seats for students living in low-income areas of Boston.

The controversy has attracted enormous coverage in local media. The changes are supported by three leading candidates in the September preliminary, including Acting Mayor Janey, Councilor Michelle Wu, and Councilor Andrea Campbell. Only Annissa Essaibi George, another city council member who previously worked as a teacher in East Boston, the new system and the process that led to its adoption.

That position may position her favorably with families living in the largely middle-class West Roxbury and Hyde Park neighborhoods, who typically make up as much of a quarter of the city鈥檚 electorate. Attorney Larry DiCara, a former city councillor and longtime observer of city politics, said that the issue鈥檚 outsized importance could swing more votes than one might expect.

“In some neighborhoods, the Latin issue is the most important issue,鈥� DiCara said. 鈥淭here are parents who, if their kids don’t get into Latin, they move.鈥�

But Will Austin, a former teacher who founded the nonprofit , said he was dismayed by the race鈥檚 persistent focus on what he called 鈥渃lick-bait-y鈥� issues at the expense of a more substantive conversation of the district鈥檚 stagnant academic results.

“You can’t lead systematic reform by changing which kids go to three of your 125 schools, which is essentially what we spent a couple of months doing,” Austin argued.

No 鈥榚ducation candidate鈥�?

There is still little clarity on which two candidates will advance in the preliminary election round. The most recent polls, conducted in and , put Wu in the lead, with Janey, Essaibi George, and several lower-ranked candidates further behind. But around one-fifth of respondents were undecided, and any configuration of the top-four candidates is generally viewed as plausible.

All four can broadly be defined as progressive, with Essaibi George venturing somewhat toward the center in her attitudes on exam schools and public safety. But Northeastern鈥檚 Portz said that the lack of more ideological differentiation made it difficult for the candidates to build more distinct brands.

鈥淚t’s tough to some degree because they’re driven by events in the news, the exam schools or the school committee resignations,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hose things are capturing more attention, and it’s hard for them to strike out and distinguish themselves.”

The race is notably different in this respect from the recent primary held in New York City, in which leading candidates sorted into camps of progressives and moderates. The moderates 鈥� including the eventual Democratic nominee, Eric Adams 鈥� generally supported the city鈥檚 charter school sector and advocated for more modest changes to admissions criteria for the city鈥檚 own exam schools.

DiCara served on the city council in the 1970s, when the district still enrolled over 100,000 students and a robust network of parochial schools served tens of thousands more. In , he argued that runaway housing costs had made Boston less friendly to families and the working class, while the disappearance of children rendered public education a less relevant concern to the city鈥檚 newer, more affluent residents.

“The dramatic changes to the population, where we have so many single people in Boston or married people without children, make Boston very different from New York City,鈥� DiCara said. 鈥淥nce you get out of Manhattan, [New York is] really a city with a lot of families.”

The city鈥檚 thought leaders have taken note of the short shrift given to schools during the campaign, with an August op-ed in the Boston Globe why no 鈥渆ducation candidate鈥� had yet emerged. and (a former BPS teacher) have each released lengthy proposals concerning education and childcare; Janey, the acting mayor, can even boast of as an advocate for children and families. But so far, none of it has produced a sustained conversation about what it would take to put Boston schools on the road to improvement.

Austin said that Boston municipal races are often dominated less by policy debates than personal experience.

鈥淓very candidate in Boston is going to talk about how housing is unaffordable. Every single candidate will talk about how we need to reform the police. Every one will say that racial equity is core to their work. They don’t have really significant policy differences, so they differentiate themselves through how they campaign and their biographies.”

Reville said that the lack of greater variation within the field has held back the kind of boundary-breaking proposals that would address the key issue plaguing education in Boston: 鈥渢oo many longstanding, ongoing, chronically underperforming schools.鈥�

鈥淣obody’s coming along to propose radical change,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou’re not hearing someone saying, for instance, ‘Let’s make summer learning an entitlement for every child in the Boston Public Schools.’ Or, ‘Should we be doing something radically different, given the changing population within the Boston Public Schools?’ We don’t have a lot of outlier proposals to make a radical shift in the status quo. It’s hard to change, and there’s an enormous amount of inertia.”