Every student deserves equal access to Massachusetts' top-ranked education system

Massachusetts’ Constitution guarantees every child an adequate education and equal protection under the law.

Yet, due to state policies, tens of thousands of Latino and Black students across the commonwealth attend racially segregated schools defined by concentrated poverty and limited opportunity. Just minutes away, students in wealthier, predominantly white districts often enjoy access to the well-resourced schools conjured by Massachusetts’ place atop national public education rankings.

At a time when the bedrock American values of diversity and equality are under attack, it’s time for Massachusetts to lead the nation once again.

[Group] v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Date filed: April 15, 2026

On April 15, 2026, families and students from highly segregated Latino, Black, and low-income school districts across Massachusetts—represented by Lawyers for Civil Rights, Brown’s Promise, and pro bono counsel from WilmerHale—filed a lawsuit charging the state with breaking a fundamental promise in its constitution by maintaining racially and economically segregated districts. These segregated school districts deny Latino, Black, Latino, and low-income students an adequate education and threaten the entire state’s civic and economic future.

The lawsuit argues that today’s education laws and policies —combined with long-segregated housing patterns rooted in past government policies—systemically restrict Latino and Black students to high-poverty, low-opportunity districts.

Get updates on this case and the fight for integrated schools.

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Massachusetts public schools are among the nation’s most segregated by race and class. State leaders have been ignoring the problem for decades.

The majority of K-12 students in Massachusetts attend schools where Latino and Black students are either vastly overrepresented or almost entirely absent.

The stakes are high: Students in these segregated majority Latino and Black districts are less likely to be on track in math and reading, graduate at lower rates, and enroll in college less often. Their schools have fewer experienced teachers and less access to advanced coursework. And the research is clear that segregated schools do a worse job of preparing students from all backgrounds to work and lead in our increasingly diverse world.

63%

63% of all Massachusetts schools are considered “segregated” or “intensely segregated” by race.

Source: Racial Imbalance Advisory Council Report, 2024

#2

Massachusetts ranks #2 in the country for worst between-district income segregation, making it one of the worst offenders when it comes to “poverty packing” some school districts.

“It’s time to End Mass Segregation. The system isn’t preparing any of our kids for the real world if it’s not preparing them to learn, play, live, and work together. Especially not if Black and Latino communities like ours get the short end of the stick year after year, generation after generation, while wealthy white school districts right next to us get access to a great education and plenty of resources. Separate really is inherently unequal.”

— Plaintiff

Massachusetts once led the nation in recognizing education and equality as a constitutional duty.

It’s time to recommit to that promise.

Massachusetts was the first state to make public education compulsory in 1852. Then in 1855—nearly a century before Brown v. Board of Education—it led the nation as the first state to outlaw racial segregation in public schools. The lawsuit challenges Massachusetts to lead once again with modern solutions to create integrated, well-resourced schools for all students, such as:

Expanding Vocational Technical schools that serve regional populations across district lines
Dramatically expanding regional magnet school programs that attract students across district lines
Prioritizing and supporting voluntary interdistrict transfer programs (including by offering free transportation)
Investing in world-class infrastructure for under-performing school districts to draw students and families to these districts
Improving and growing the METCO program