The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a civil rights investigation into a Virginia school district following allegations of racial discrimination against Asian American students, acting on a referral from Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares.
Fairfax County Public Schools has been accused of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by using race in its admissions decision process, “among other impermissible acts, errors, and omissions,” according to a May 21 letter from Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.
According to Dhillon, the alleged discrimination occurred at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (Thomas Jefferson HS), a top-ranked public high school in Alexandria, Virginia. Miyares referred the case to the DOJ, citing evidence of intentional discrimination tied to the school’s 2020 admissions policy overhaul.
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Ranked among the top STEM-focused schools in the country, the school saw a steep drop in Asian-American student enrollment from about 73% in 2020 to roughly 54% in 2021, despite an increase in available seats.
According to Miyares, internal communications, including text messages among Fairfax County School Board members, reveal an intent to reduce Asian American representation, with references to an “anti-Asian feel” and statements like “Asians hate us.” He described the policy as a “deliberate, race-based system designed to disadvantage” Asian American students, violating both state and federal civil rights laws.
“The Fairfax County School Board made clear its intended outcome was to reduce opportunities for Asian American students, and that’s exactly what occurred,” said Miyares. “These students are not statistics. They are sons and daughters, neighbors, classmates, and Virginians who deserve equal protection and opportunity under the law.”
The 2020 policy shift eliminated standardized testing and introduced a “holistic” admissions process, reserving seats for top students from each middle school in Fairfax County and prioritizing factors like socioeconomic status and attendance at underrepresented schools.
In a statement released Thursday, an FCPS spokesperson said:
“This matter has already been fully litigated. A federal appellate court determined there was no merit to arguments that the admissions policy for Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology discriminates against any group of students. Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) division leadership and counsel are currently reviewing the documents released today by the Attorney General and will issue a more detailed response in the coming days. FCPS remains committed to providing a world class education for all of our students.”
Dhillon said her office will work in coordination with the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights “to determine whether Fairfax County Public Schools has violated its obligations” under the law and has directed her office to “review this matter to determine whether the actions in question also violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement that Thomas Jefferson High School “has long had a reputation for producing some of our nation’s brightest minds, due in no small part to its rigorous admissions process.”
“The Fairfax County School Board’s alleged decision to weigh race in TJ’s admissions decisions appears to be both contrary to the law and to the fundamental principle that students should be evaluated on their merit, not the color of their skin,” McMahon said.
“The Department of Education is grateful for the diligent work of Governor Youngkin and Attorney General Miyares for documenting a pattern of concerning practices at TJ, and we will further investigate this complaint to ensure that all students being assessed fairly, according to merit and accomplishment.”
The review comes amid reports Thursday that FCPS also faces a federal civil rights complaint over its enforcement of “racial equity” policies that reportedly involve skewing grades based on race and a curriculum that includes a video depicting white students as mosquitoes biting people of color.
The advocacy group Defending Education filed a federal civil rights complaint against Fairfax County Public Schools on Tuesday, requesting that the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights investigate the district.
