The Department of Justice (DOJ) is stepping into a federal lawsuit accusing nation’s second-largest school district of illegally sorting students by race to determine funding and school admissions.
The Civil Rights Division filed a motion to intervene Wednesday in the case against Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), according to a DOJ press release. The lawsuit targets the district’s Predominantly Hispanic, Black, Asian, and Other (PHBAO) program, which classifies neighborhoods as “Anglo” or non-Anglo and distributes resources accordingly.
“Treating Americans equally is not a suggestion — it is a core constitutional guarantee that educational institutions must follow,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in the release. “This Department of Justice will never stop fighting to make that guarantee a reality, including for public-school students in Los Angeles.”
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon called the classification system unlawful. (RELATED: Trump DOJ Joins Legal Fight Against Major Med School’s ‘Race-Based’ Admissions)
It is unacceptable to treat students in the U.S., including in Los Angeles, differently based on their race, or their neighbors’ races.@TheJusticeDept’s @CivilRights will fight against illegal race-based sorting to protect the civil rights of ALL Americans, as our laws demand! pic.twitter.com/mezUkWVIb7
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) February 18, 2026
“Los Angeles County students should never be classified or treated differently because of their race. Yet this school district is doing exactly that by providing benefits that treat students — based on their race — as though they have learning disabilities,” Dhillon said. “Racial discrimination is unlawful and un-American, and this Civil Rights Division will fight to ensure that every LAUSD student is treated equally under the law.”
The DOJ complaint states that LAUSD labels areas with fewer than 30 percent white residents as disadvantaged. Schools receiving this designation get extra funding to cut class sizes by 5.5 students per teacher and receive admission preferences for competitive magnet programs, according to the press release.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said the decades-old policy has run its course. “Now in its sixth decade, LAUSD’s desegregation program has outlived its usefulness to the point of being unconstitutional,” Essayli said. “School districts must treat their students equally and no longer discriminate on the basis of race.”
The 1776 Project Foundation, a conservative education nonprofit, originally filed the lawsuit in January. Lead attorney Michael DiNardo condemned the policy in a statement reported by Fox LA.
“These policies are not just unfair — they’re unconstitutional,” DiNardo said. “What began as a temporary measure to address segregation has become a rigid system of racial favoritism that excludes thousands of students from equal opportunity.”
An LAUSD spokesperson told the Los Angeles (LA) Daily News that the district cannot address specifics due to ongoing litigation but “remains firmly committed to ensuring all students have meaningful access to services and enriching educational opportunities.”
The PHBAO label covers more than 600 LAUSD campuses, leaving fewer than 100 outside the classification, according to the New York Times. White students account for approximately 10 percent of total enrollment.
