Education Equity
Protecting New York City School Students’ Right to an Antiracist Education
Case Overview
OUr Clients
The New York State Constitution guarantees all students a sound basic education, preparing them to participate meaningfully in civic and economic life. But in New York City, a two-tier school system excludes many Black and Latinx students from educational opportunity, reinforcing the inequalities that public education is meant to dismantle. The result is one of the nation’s most segregated school systems: in the 2018–19 school year, close to 75% of Black and Latinx students attended schools with less than 10% white students, and over 34% of white students attended schools with majority white populations, notwithstanding that only 15% of City students are white.
In March 2021, Public Counsel and co-counsel, representing youth-led organization IntegrateNYC and City students, filed the first lawsuit in the nation asserting a right to an antiracist education. The lawsuit, filed against State and City defendants, challenges the many ways in which the State and City reproduce racial inequality through the City school system, including: maintaining a racialized pipeline to the City’s prime educational opportunities, which relegates many students of color to neglected schools; allowing schools to teach a white and Eurocentric curriculum that marginalizes people of color; failing to build and support a diverse educator workforce; and failing to provide adequate mental health supports to redress the racialized harms students experience in City schools.
In June 2021, two additional organizations — the New York City Coalition of Educational Justice and P.S. 132 Parents for Change — joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs.
UPDATE: On May 2, 2024, the New York State Appellate Court ruled the lawsuit could proceed, allowing the legal challenge to segregation and racial inequity in New York City’s public school system to move forward. Read the ruling here.
Court
Supreme Court of the State of New York
New York Supreme Court Appellate Division—First Department
Court of Appeals of the State of New York
Status
Appellate Division Ruling Reversed by Court of Appeals
Case No.
152743/2021 (Supreme Court)
2022-02719 (Appellate Division)
APL-2024-00099 (Court of Appeals)
Filed
03/19/2021
Our Organizational Clients
Public Counsel Legal Team
Senior Special Counsel for Strategic Litigation
Strategic Litigation Counsel
our Co-Counsel
Case Developments
Ruling
10/23/2025
Court of Appeal Rules on Appeal from Grant of Motion to Dismiss
The New York Court of Appeals reversed the Appellate Division’s decision allowing the case to proceed.
Hearing
09/10/2025
New York Court of Appeals Hears Oral Argument
New York’s highest court heard oral argument in Defendants’ appeal, with Mark Rosenbaum having argued on behalf of Plaintiffs.
Filing
02/03/2025
Plaintiffs File Brief Before New York’s Highest Court
Defendants appealed the decision by the Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division to the New York Court of Appeals. In opposition, Plaintiffs argued that the Appellate Division correctly allowed the case to move forward.
Order
05/02/2024
New York State Appellate Court Rules Lawsuit Can Move Forward
The Supreme Court of the State of New York Appellate Division ruled that the lawsuit can move forward. The appeal was argued on November 16, 2023, before the First Appellate Department (video of hearing here).
Filing
08/18/2023
Plaintiffs Appeal Dismissal of Landmark Segregation Lawsuit
Plaintiffs filed a reply brief challenging the dismissal of the case and arguing that the court erred in holding that Plaintiffs’ claims are not justiciable.
Press Releases
Media
- Bloomberg, Top New York Court Tosses Race-Bias Challenge to City’s Gifted Schools, 10/23/25
- Courthouse News, Kids claim NYC gifted school segregation at top state court, 9/10/25
- ABC 7, Desegregation lawsuits still remain 70 years after Brown v. Board of Education, 2/18/25
- New York Times, Court Allows Case Challenging Segregation in N.Y.C. Schools to Advance, 5/2/24
- Bloomberg, NYC Public Schools Gifted Programs Targeted by Segregation Lawsuit, 5/2/24
- CNN, NYC to eliminate gifted and talented school program that opponents say segregated students, 10/8/21
- New York Times, Lawsuit Challenging N.Y.C. School Segregation Targets Gifted Programs, 3/9/21
- Reuters, New York City schools perpetuate racism, lawsuit contends, 3/9/21
- New York Daily News, New York City schools perpetuate racism, lawsuit contends, 3/9/21
- CBS Radio, Lawsuit accuses NYC public school system of racist admissions practices, 3/9/21
- Chalkbeat NY, NYC students file lawsuit taking aim at admissions screens, school segregation, 3/9/21
- Politico Pro, Lawsuit: City denying students ‘sound basic education’ with admissions policies, segregation, 3/9/21
- Gothamist, Lawsuit Seeks To Obliterate Admissions Processes At NYC Public Schools, 3/9/21
- New York CBS, New York Schools Facing Lawsuit Over Allegations Of Segregation, 3/9/21
- PIX 11, Lawsuit challenges NYC public school segregation, 3/9/21
- WBAI, A New Day, 3/9/21
- New York Post, NYC sue to stop gifted programs citing racial ‘caste system’, 3/9/21
- Legal Reader, New York City Students File Lawsuit Claiming Public Schools Admissions are Discriminatory, 3/9/21
- Yahoo News, New lawsuit accuses NY school system of segregation in gifted programs, 3/9/21
- Amsterdam News, Urban Agenda: Suit Seeks To Dismantle “Caste System” in City’s Education System, 3/18/21
