{"id":332012,"date":"2025-10-25T17:29:30","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T17:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/332012\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T17:29:30","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T17:29:30","slug":"ny-top-court-tosses-challenge-of-nyc-schools-admissions-to-gifted-programs-specialized-high-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/332012\/","title":{"rendered":"NY top court tosses challenge of NYC schools admissions to gifted programs, specialized high schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York\u2019s highest court has thrown out a years-long legal challenge to selective admissions at the city\u2019s gifted programs<\/a> and specialized high schools as discriminatory against Black and Latino students.<\/p>\n

The New York Court of Appeals on Thursday dismissed the case, 5-2, because the students shut out of the elite schools and programs had not adequately pled they were denied a basic education as required by the state\u2019s constitution<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The majority also said allegations the disparate impact of the city\u2019s admissions policies were \u201cforeseeable\u201d were not enough to argue \u201cdiscriminatory intent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe share the concerns of the lower courts and the parties over the issues raised by plaintiffs\u2019 complaint,\u201d Judge Michael Garcia wrote in the majority opinion<\/a>. \u201cOur role, however, is \u2014 as it has always been \u2014 to determine whether plaintiffs have presented a legally sufficient claim for resolution by the courts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHere,\u201d the opinion continued, \u201cplaintiffs have not done so, and we must dismiss.\u201d<\/p>\n

Less than a third of students in gifted programs tend to be Black or Latino<\/a>, compared to about two-thirds who are white or Asian American. The racial breakdown for specialized high school admissions<\/a>\u00a0was 53.5% Asian, 25.9% white, 6.9% Hispanic, and 3% Black during the most recent application cycle.<\/p>\n

In a dissent, Judge Jenny Rivera said the majority erred by tossing the case, partly because statewide standards for a sound education \u201ccannot be satisfied by an educational system that functions as a racialized pipeline excluding students of color from schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaintiffs\u2019 claims are more than \u2018troubling,’\u201d Rivera wrote. \u201cThey implicate discriminatory governmental practices and policies antithetical to an open, civilized, and diverse democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Filed in 2021, the lawsuit accused the city\u2019s public schools of functioning as a pipeline that tracks Black and Latino students into lesser schools<\/a> and second-rate programs, starting with gifted programs where incoming kindergarteners from some families have a leg up over their peers. By the time they\u2019re competing for specialized and screened high schools, the suit claimed, the odds are stacked against them, and the students are denied as good of an education\u00a0as other kids their ages.<\/p>\n

The case was first dismissed by a trial court judge, before a mid-level appeals court allowed it to move forward<\/a>. Thursday\u2019s decision overturned the lower appellate panel\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n

Nicholas Paolucci, a spokesman for the Law Department, said city government was pleased with the court\u2019s ruling while \u201ccommitted to providing a sound education for every student.\u201d\u00a0JP O\u2019Hare, a spokesman for the New York State Education Department, pointed to the judges\u2019 conclusion that their assertions \u2014 and proof to back them up \u2014 were, as a matter of law, \u201cadequate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the Department acknowledges that significant work remains to ensure that all students in New York City, and across the state, have a right to a quality public education,\u201d O\u2019Hare said.<\/p>\n

A lawyer for the plaintiffs did not immediately return a request for comment. Michael Rebell \u2014 an attorney at the Center for Educational Equity at Teachers College, Columbia University, who filed an amicus brief in the case \u2014 said the outcome was not surprising, given the trial court\u2019s prior dismissal and the case\u2019s tall order.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe claims were overwhelming. Basically, everything going on in the New York City school system, they wanted to put on trial \u2014 and it was not surprising that a court didn\u2019t want to take that on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut from my point of view, this decision was very significant,\u201d added Rebell, who is best known as the lawyer from the landmark case on New York\u2019s constitutional right to education<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The plaintiffs claimed a segregated school system denied students basic instruction, and while the Court of Appeals did not rule in their favor, they did appear to create precedent for the quality of an education to which students are entitled, he said.<\/p>\n

And in the face of the Trump administration targeting diversity programs<\/a>, Rebell said of the court, \u201cThey say that they are admirable policy positions, but that\u2019s up to the legislature [or Board of Education]. The court does not get into policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dismissal comes as gifted programs have emerged as a hot-button issue in the mayor\u2019s race<\/a>, with front-runner and Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani promising to push back when students are admitted. Both Andrew Cuomo, the former governor and independent candidate, and GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa have campaigned on gifted program expansions.<\/p>\n

But Mamdani \u2014 once a fierce critic of the SHSAT, despite being a specialized high school graduate himself \u2014 has since moderated his stance on the single entrance exam<\/a> to eight schools, including Stuyvesant High School, Brooklyn Tech, and Bronx Science.<\/p>\n

The group Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education<\/a> called the court\u2019s decision \u201ca win for parents and students who believe in rewarding hard work and nurturing potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis ruling sends a clear message that New York will continue to prioritize student achievement and provide opportunities for accelerated learners,\u201d Yiatin Chu, the co-president of PLACE, said Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: October 24, 2025 at 11:44 AM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York\u2019s highest court has thrown out a years-long legal challenge to selective admissions at the city\u2019s gifted…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":332013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,407,1370,728,405,403,5294,50,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-332012","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-education","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-local-news","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-new-york-county","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-newyork","17":"tag-newyorkcity","18":"tag-ny","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115435992873580895","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}