Lowells admissions test probably violates state law
Numerous current and former Board of Education members tell Mission Local that the school district’s general counsel has warned them – in closed-session meetings and in writing — that Lowell’s old merit-based admissions policy is incompatible with California law.
If the district were to be sued — it would lose. In private, the district has been candid about this for years.
If you’re wondering just what passage of the California Education Code has the school district lawyers gritting their teeth, check 35160.5 (b)(2)(B).
The operative passage states that if more students want to go to a school than it has room to serve, the district must ensure “that selection of pupils to enroll in the school is made through a random, unbiased process that prohibits an evaluation of whether a pupil should be enrolled based upon the pupil’s academic or athletic performance.”