Ronald E. McNair Academic High School, one of New Jersey’s highest-ranked public high schools, must eliminate its race-based admissions policy under a settlement reached with the U.S. Department of Justice, setting the stage for a new admissions process beginning with the 2027-28 school year.
Federal officials said the longstanding admissions system, which allocated seats based on racial categories, violated federal civil rights law. School officials must develop a new admissions policy that does not consider race or national origin.
“Quota systems that define students by their race or national origin have been illegal since the 1970s,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “The district will no longer provide any preference or benefit to a McNair applicant based on his or her race or national origin.”…