Jersey City Prep School Ends Race-Based Admissions Under DOJ Settlement

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday that it has reached a voluntary settlement with the Jersey City Board of Education in a deal that ends race- and national origin-based admissions practices at one of New Jersey’s top public high schools.

“This week the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the Jersey City Board of Education entered a voluntary settlement agreement to end race and national origin discrimination in student admissions at Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

The agreement ends a federal probe into the school’s admissions process and requires the district to change how it selects students for the selective college-preparatory campus. It may no longer reserve seats based on race or national origin.

The new policy must be in effect before the admissions cycle for the 2027–28 school year. The settlement remains in effect until mid-August 2029, and the district must file regular status reports to the Justice Department during that period.

Dr. Ronald E. McNair Academic High School, located in Jersey City, ranks fourth among New Jersey high schools, according to U.S. News & World Report. Its student body is 81 percent minority and 34 percent economically disadvantaged.

The action is part of a wider Trump administration effort to end diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs that officials say equate to illegal discrimination.

In January 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.”

The order declared that “Illegal DEI and DEIA policies not only violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws, they also undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system.”

That order instructed federal agencies, including the Education and Justice departments, to eliminate race-based preferences at institutions that receive federal funding.

Schools and colleges that do not comply could lose aid for special education, low-income students, Pell Grants, and research programs.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon has underscored that “Students must be assessed according to merit and accomplishment, not prejudged by the color of their skin.”

Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor has similarly warned that many institutions have “discriminated against students on the basis of race, including white and Asian students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds and low-income families.”

The Jersey City settlement is among the first enforcement actions targeting a K–12 selective admissions process under the new guidelines. It requires the district to adopt a race-neutral approach that the Justice Department says aligns with federal civil-rights statutes.

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division will monitor compliance through 2029, and failure to comply with the agreement could result in further legal action or the loss of federal education dollars.

This action extends the administration’s anti-DEI campaign beyond elite universities into local school systems. Similar investigations into race-based scholarships, segregated programs, and admissions preferences at more than 50 colleges remain ongoing.