The U.S. Department of Education has reopened a civil rights investigation into the Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) Black Student Achievement Plan, a program created to support Black students academically. The move comes after a conservative watchdog group filed a second complaint alleging the district is continuing to discriminate based on race, despite a 2024 settlement intended to resolve the issue.
In a letter dated Thursday, the department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) notified the Virginia-based group, Defending Education, that it would look into the renewed allegations. The investigation will examine whether the LAUSD program "violates Title VI and its implementing regulations by providing services and programs to students based on their race and by excluding students of other races from the program," according to the letter signed by chief attorney Anamaria Loya.
The OCR’s letter notes that "opening an investigation does not mean that OCR has made a final determination with regard to the merits." LAUSD did not comment directly on the new complaint but provided a statement saying its programs, including the Black Student Achievement Plan (BSAP), are "open to any interested student" and align with non-discrimination laws.
Investigation follows 2024 settlement
This is the second time Defending Education, formerly known as Parents Defending Education, has prompted a federal probe into the $120-million initiative. The group, which says its mission is to oppose “destructive practices” in schools, first filed a complaint alleging the BSAP violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the U.S. Constitution by offering educational services exclusively based on race.
That initial complaint led to a 2023-24 investigation by the Biden administration. Federal officials advised the district that race-exclusive programs were legally unsupportable, particularly in light of the Supreme Court's June 2023 ruling that eliminated the consideration of race in college admissions. This decision has had ripple effects on educational policies across the country.
To settle the investigation and avoid further action, LAUSD agreed to overhaul the program. While the name remained the same, the district officially removed race as a determining factor for participation. Instead, it agreed to identify students and schools for the program using race-neutral criteria, effectively opening the support services to students of all backgrounds who have similar academic needs. The OCR dismissed the first complaint in 2024 after LAUSD presented its revised plan.
Program's origins and overhaul
The Black Student Achievement Plan was launched in 2021 to address persistent achievement gaps and provide targeted support for Black students, who constitute about 7% of the district’s population. The district has faced ongoing challenges, with overall enrolment numbers on a downward trend, as noted in reports on LAUSD leading California in public school enrolment decline.
The program channelled funding to designated schools to hire additional staff, including psychiatric social workers and counsellors, specifically to assist Black students. It also provided resources to enhance curriculum and offer specialized employee training. Supporters said the plan was beginning to show early but positive results in improving outcomes for its target demographic.
The 2024 overhaul, however, outraged many of those supporters. They argued that removing the explicit focus on Black students diluted the program’s original intent and effectiveness. At the time, L.A. schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho told reporters that the revamped plan would continue to help Black students while extending the same support to others with comparable academic struggles.
New complaint hinges on board meeting recording
Defending Education’s new complaint, filed in March 2026, alleges the district’s changes were merely superficial. The group’s central piece of evidence is a recording of an LAUSD board meeting from late 2024. During the meeting, students were heard chanting "put the Black back in BSAP."
In the recording, then-board member Jackie Goldberg, who retired later that year, turned to Carvalho and asked, “Do they not know that nothing has changed?” Carvalho responded, “This is the way to proceed. Otherwise you actually compromise more.” Defending Education argues this exchange proves the district never intended to implement meaningful changes and misled federal investigators.
The investigation re-emerges during a tumultuous period for LAUSD’s leadership. Carvalho is currently on paid administrative leave after his home and district office were raided by the FBI earlier this year. The raid was allegedly connected to the procurement process for a failed AI chatbot product the district had purchased. The district continues to manage its programs under a multi-billion dollar budget, a topic of recent discussion as Mayor Bass unveiled a $14.85 billion budget.
District and critics respond
In response to the reopened investigation, the vice president of Defending Education, Sarah Parshall Perry, accused the district of bad faith.
LAUSD outwardly feigned as though they had ended their race discrimination in the district, but later information revealed they had not.
Perry added that her organization looked forward to the investigation into what she called LAUSD’s “racial politicking and misuse of federal funding.”
The renewed scrutiny places LAUSD once again at the centre of a national debate over how public schools can address racial disparities without violating civil rights laws. The U.S. Department of Education and its Office for Civil Rights are tasked with enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, colour, or national origin in programs receiving federal financial assistance. The outcome of this investigation could have significant implications for similar equity programs in school districts across the United States. For now, the future and focus of the Black Student Achievement Plan hang in the balance.
