Race Bias Suit Over Elite Boston Public Schools on Shaky Ground

Boston school officials appeared poised Tuesday to escape a challenge to their replacement of merit-based admissions to its elite public schools with criteria that allegedly designed to limit white and Asian American enrollment.

The case is the second lawsuit filed by the Boston Parent Coalition for Academic Excellence Corp. following the city school committee’s revamping of the path for students to be admitted to its three “exam schools.” The coalition lost its challenge to the city’s first plan to apportion admission slots across zip codes to increase demographic diversity, a decision affirmed by the First ...