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Mediation in the legal battle to fix New Jersey’s segregated schools could conclude in February, marking a pivotal moment in the case after more than a year of closed-door talks to find common ground on remedies, court documents show.
The state and the group of advocates and families that comprise the plaintiffs began the massive undertaking to jointly seek solutions that would address New Jersey’s deeply-rooted racial and socioeconomic school segregation in November 2023.
The historic lawsuit, filed six years ago against New Jersey’s state school board, education department, and acting education commissioner, argued that schools statewide are unlawfully segregated. Lawsuits targeting school segregation on a statewide scale are a rare occurrence nationally, and this was the first one of its kind for New Jersey. A Superior Court judge in October 2023 issued a complex ruling that then prompted the parties to enter a mediation process.
Should an agreement outlining remedies result from mediation, there could be fundamental changes to the state’s education system that sets a path toward school desegregation efforts. However, if the parties don’t reach an agreement in mediation, more years of legal proceedings could be ahead, delaying any large-scale attempts at desegregation.
After 14 months of mediation talks, which were under strict confidentiality rules, a conclusion appears to be imminent.
“It may be that the parties are close to reaching the end of the mediation process,” wrote Lawrence Lustberg of Gibbons Law, the lead counsel for the plaintiffs, in a court filing earlier this month.
The outcome of these mediation discussions could have reverberations across the country at a time when policies to fortify and codify diversity, equity, and inclusion practices are being threatened by a second Trump administration.
Political changes and priorities in New Jersey are also looming, as Gov. Phil Murphy is in his final year at the helm and a pool of at least 10 candidates, including four Republicans and six Democrats, compete for his seat, including Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka.
New Jersey was ranked as having the sixth most segregated school system for Black students and seventh most segregated school system for Latino students in a 2017 report on the state’s segregated schools from The Civil Rights Project.
Recent research has shown racial and economic school segregation has increased in the last 30 years nationwide, particularly in large school districts. A 2024 report out of Stanford and the University of Southern California found that policies favoring school choice and parental preference, in addition to the end of court oversight that required school integration for certain districts, were two major drivers of the increase.
Monumental lawsuit slowly moves through the courts
The case, which could lead to an overhaul of the state’s public schools, stretches back to 2018, when a coalition of advocates and families sued the state, claiming that its segregated school system violates the state constitution, which is rare in its explicit ban on school segregation.
Among the plaintiffs are the families of nine students that attended schools in Camden, Elizabeth, Highland Park, Hoboken, Newark, Paterson, and Union City, and five advocacy groups, including Latino Action Network, NAACP New Jersey State Conference, Latino Coalition, Urban League of Essex County, and The United Methodist Church of Greater New Jersey.
In its defense, the state argued that segregation in a handful of districts didn’t establish a statewide violation.
Though not originally listed as defendants in the suit, representatives of charter schools and renaissance schools entered as intervenors, meaning they have a stake in the outcome of the case. In New Jersey, renaissance schools are a charter-district hybrid, run by a nonprofit but funded by the public school district at a greater rate than charter schools.
After five years of litigation, in the fall of 2023, a state Superior Court judge issued a lengthy ruling that avoided overwhelmingly favoring one side over the other and stopped short of answering key questions, including what the state should be required to do next.
“Novel and broad do not mean meritless. Plaintiffs maintain that ‘New Jersey’s schools are tragically — and embarrassingly — among the most segregated in the nation,’” said Judge Robert Lougy in his ruling, quoting the activists’ complaint. “That alleged condition, along with our court’s prohibition of de facto segregation, makes New Jersey a logical choice for such historic claims.”
Shortly after that ruling to avoid more years of expensive litigation, the parties agreed to enter a mediation phase, with former state Supreme Court Associate Justice Barry T. Albin leading those discussions. Since then, they’ve had 11 formal mediation sessions with Albin, in addition to meetings between sessions, to continue “good-faith discussions” to reach a resolution, Lustberg said in court documents filed this month.
As part of the mediation process, the parties updated the state appellate court monthly on their progress, court documents show.
While most updates showed all parties agreed that they were participating in fair negotiations, in September 2024, the renaissance schools’ attorney Thomas Johnston filed a letter to the court that stated his clients weren’t getting “adequate involvement” in the discussions. Still, the court continued to approve three-month extensions for mediation, which has been consistent throughout the process.
In court documents from this month, the parties changed course and asked for a one-month extension until Feb. 14, adding that mediation discussions could soon be done.
“We believe this will be our last extension request and that, if the mediation has not concluded by February 14, 2025, we will likely be asking the court to set an appropriate briefing schedule,” Lustberg wrote.
He added that the parties “wish to continue to attempt, for at least a brief time more, to devote their efforts and resources to this mediation process, rather than to litigation.”
Potential remedies could catch New Jersey voters ‘by surprise’
The case shined a light on the state’s residency statute, known as the “home rule,” which stipulates that every municipality must have its own school district and that children who live in that town are assigned to those schools. The plaintiffs argued that the “undisputed history” of discriminatory governmental housing policies made way for New Jersey’s residential segregation, which has been replicated in the school system.
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs highlighted state enrollment data that showed 30% of Latino students and 25% of Black students attend schools where the non-white student enrollment is between 90-99%. They also specifically noted 23 districts with high percentages of Latino and Black students who qualified for free or reduced-price lunch, which included Newark and Irvington, among others.
Some possible remedies, such as creating new magnet schools that enroll students from multiple districts, could be expensive yet popular with families. Other potential measures, such as allowing students to transfer schools or redrawing district boundaries, have historically faced resistance from wealthy white parents and taxpayers in New Jersey who fear an influx of poor students of color will undermine their community’s schools and home values.
State Sen. Jon Bramnick, a Republican representing Morris, Somerset, and Union counties, has previously said that this issue should be handled through the legislature, not through lawsuits. Bramnick, one of the Republican contenders running for governor, has also said he wants the home rule in the state’s constitution.
Despite the potential for state and national reverberations from the outcome of this case, a Fairleigh Dickinson University Poll from November showed that most New Jersey voters were not aware of the lawsuit. About 65% of voters reported they’ve heard “nothing” about the case and few were aware that New Jersey has among the most segregated school systems in the country.
“This case has been going on for years, with a lot of it behind closed doors,” said Dan Cassino, the executive director of the FDU Poll and government professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University, in a statement released with the poll results. “Eventually, though, we’re going to get an announcement that could fundamentally reshape public schools in New Jersey, and it’s going to take a lot of people by surprise.”
Catherine Carrera is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Newark. Contact Catherine at ccarrera@chalkbeat.org.
