An education oversight organization has called on the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights to probe allegations against the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The claims suggest that the district has earmarked tens of millions for services exclusively available to Black students.
According to Defending Education, LAUSD introduced the “Black Student Achievement Plan” (BSAP) in 2021 to tackle persistent disparities in educational outcomes between Black students and their peers from other racial backgrounds. The district has highlighted the program’s aim to foster “racial equity,” with funds being distributed to various schools using a “race-based tiered system.”
The watchdog group reports that LAUSD has set aside $50 million for the initiative in the 2025-2026 academic year, in addition to a previous allocation of $125 million towards BSAP.
Superintendent Alberto Carvalho was seen addressing an audience at the LAUSD headquarters in downtown Los Angeles on October 30, 2025. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
One aspect of the BSAP funding under scrutiny includes staffing resources specifically designated to meet the academic and social-emotional needs of Black students.
On July 11, 2023, Defending Education submitted a complaint to the Office of Civil Rights. The complaint contends that the policy breaches Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
But that complaint was dismissed exactly a year later, after LAUSD represented that it had “substantially changed its criteria for resource allocation to a race-neutral standard and that BSAP’s resources would be available to all students regardless of race,” and the Office of Civil Rights agreed that any potential violation had been rectified.
LAUSD Board Member Jackie Goldberg sits in a board meeting on Oct. 22, 2024. (Los Angeles Unified School District)
However, Defending Education alleges that only months after the complaint was dismissed, LAUSD Board of Education members said the program had not changed.
In a board meeting on Oct. 22, 2024, activists who opposed LAUSD’s changes to BSAP caused a ruckus, chanting slogans in opposition to the board’s announcement.
During those chants, according to Defending Education, board President Jackie Goldberg and LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho were caught on a hot mic agreeing that “nothing has changed.”
“Do they not know that nothing has changed?” Goldberg asked Carvalho in reference to the protesters.
“Nothing has changed,” Carvalho agreed.
Students backing the Black Student Achievement Plan during a Los Angeles Unified School District school board meeting on Oct. 2, 2024. (Los Angeles Unified School District )
“How do they not know that?” Goldberg replied.
Armed with this exchange, Defending Education has filed a new complaint.
“It’s concerning when a board of education member and the superintendent both promise in a public meeting that nothing has changed in the context of a race-based program that the district knows is in violation of federal law. It’s an admission that they have knowingly lied to the federal government about what is actually going on in the district as it relates to race-based programming,” said Erika Sanzi, senior communications director for Defending Education.
Los Angeles Unified School District yellow school bus taken on October 22, 2025. (Walter Cicchetti/Getty Images)
“It is also worth noting that LAUSD’s school board added $50 million more to the BSAP program in its 2025-26 budget, bringing the total for the program to $175 million,” she said. “Not sure what it’s going to take for public school districts to accept the fact that it is against the law to include and exclude students in programs on the basis of race—hopefully re-opening the civil rights investigation can help with that.”
LAUSD did not return a request for comment.
