The lawsuit filed Wednesday on behalf of students and community organizations in Massachusetts accuses the state of maintaining school systems that, the plaintiffs say, are racially segregated and produce unequal opportunities for Black and Latino students. The complaint argues that school assignment rules tied to where students live allow patterns of residential segregation to be reproduced across district lines.
According to the filing, the state’s approach concentrates students of color in high-poverty districts while leaving them less able to enroll in neighboring, more affluent school systems. The lawsuit points to districts that border predominantly white, higher-income areas where the plaintiffs say they cannot enroll.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to compel the state to address disparities that they say arise from the rules assigning students to schools in their neighborhoods. The suit was filed in Massachusetts state court in Suffolk County and is supported by nine students and four community organizations from segregated school districts across the state.
Among the districts named, the lawsuit includes systems in Springfield, Holyoke, Boston, Lawrence, Brockton, Lynn and Worcester. The plaintiffs say those districts border more affluent, predominantly white districts, and that students from the named segregated districts are blocked from enrolling in those areas.
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education officials responded by saying the agency does not have the authority to change school district boundaries or compel schools to allow students from other districts to enroll. In a written statement, the department said it has invested in efforts to reduce gaps in graduation rates and sought additional investments for high-poverty districts.
A spokesperson for the department, Jacqueline Reis, said Massachusetts “leads the nation in student achievement” and that the state is committed to building on that progress “to strengthen our education system for every student in our state.” The plaintiffs, in turn, argue that the state is not meeting what they describe as constitutional obligations to provide an adequate education and equal protection.
The complaint points to a 2024 state advisory council report finding that 63% of schools in Massachusetts are segregated or intensely segregated. It also says schools with higher concentrations of students of color saw worse outcomes on metrics such as graduation and college matriculation.
Jillian Lenson, a senior attorney at Lawyers for Civil Rights, said in remarks connected to the lawsuit that “It’s not student potential, it’s the conditions of their schools that drive these disparate outcomes, conditions that the state has maintained and perpetuated for decades.” Lenson said the case challenges what she described as persistent shortcomings in the state’s oversight duties.
The lawsuit also seeks remedies focused on expanding access to opportunities that plaintiffs say are concentrated in under-resourced districts. The plaintiffs say the state already has options such as regional vocational schools and voluntary inter-district transfers, but that a complex system of opt-outs and the small size of most programs limit equal access.
GeDá Jones Herbert, chief legal counsel at Brown’s Promise, said the lawsuit is “not seeking mandatory integration,” but instead asks for investments in what she described as evidence-backed practices that benefit all students. Jones Herbert said those investments include expanding regional magnet programs and investing more in under-resourced schools, arguing that Black and Latino students are blocked from access to those opportunities.
The case is among a set of state-level legal challenges aimed at segregation and funding inequities tied to housing patterns. The lawsuit cites previous efforts in states including New Jersey and Minnesota that have argued school assignment systems based on residence contribute to racially segregated schools, with those cases still working their way through state court systems.
Advocates also point to a broader legal context in which federal oversight of desegregation changed after Supreme Court rulings limited tools available to districts to integrate schools by race. Robert Williams, a professor of law emeritus at Rutgers University, said state constitutions can provide a pathway for challenges when segregation results from economics and housing patterns, describing the combined effect of district structures aligned with housing and rules requiring students to attend school where they live.
Williams said: “The government knows about it, but it’s not the government that did it directly,” adding that such cases argue that “having so many different school districts that align with housing patterns and having laws that say that you have to go to school where you live, all of those things sort of amount to government segregation.”