{"id":15096,"date":"2025-10-24T16:11:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T16:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/15096\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T16:11:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T16:11:07","slug":"ny-top-court-tosses-challenge-of-nyc-schools-admissions-to-gifted-programs-specialized-high-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/15096\/","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 basic 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 claims, the odds are stacked against them \u2014 and the students are denied access to as good of an education or their nicer facilities.<\/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

A lawyer for the plaintiffs did not immediately return a request for comment. 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<\/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","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":2,"featured_media":15097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[67,85,267,9,24,264,11,10,49,51,50,12],"class_list":{"0":"post-15096","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-education","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-new-york-county","14":"tag-new-york-headlines","15":"tag-new-york-news","16":"tag-new-york-state","17":"tag-new-york-state-headlines","18":"tag-new-york-state-news","19":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}