Appeals court to hear state school segregation suit
Plaintiffs hope for quicker ruling on residency laws
By: Mary Ann Koruth
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... A New Jersey school segregation lawsuit with implications for how children are assigned to public schools is now going before an appeals court, a move that could avoid a lengthy trial.
.....
It's a big step forward for plaintiffs Latino Action Network and the NAACP. the groups brought a legal challenge in 2018 to New Jersey's tradition of assigning children to schools in their residential ZIP code. the plaintiffs allege that residency laws are causing segregation in the state's public schools.
..... The case has been moving slowly through the courts, wit COVID-19 pandemic delays and then a mediation effort that failed to bring the two sides to an agreement.
..... On July 8, [2025] Appellate Judge Heidi Currier granted the plaintiffs; request to appeal an earlier trial court decision.
..... That decision, issued by Superior Court Judge Robert Lougy in October 2023, agreed with the plaintiffs' overall change that public schools in New Jersey are segregated because of residency laws, causing irreparable harm to generations of low-income Black and Latino students who are compelled to attend failing schools within their municipal borders.
..... Lougy stopped short, however, of issuing a summary judgment that would have sided clearly with one party over the other and reduced the likelihood of long trail. He also did not hold the sate liable for the impacts of "de facto" segregation or oder the state to implement remedies.
..... That led the plaintiffs and their attorneys to appeal Lougy's denial of their request for a summary judgment.
..... The appellate court's decisions to hear the case is a setback for the Murphy administration. Attorney General Matt Platkiin's office, which has defended preserving the state's residency laws throughout, filed a motion in May [2025] to block the move to appeal.
..... In their request to have the case argued in appeals court, attorneys for the plaintiffs said the state was trying to stall until a new governor is elected in November. [2025]
..... "Plaintiffs are grateful that the court determined to hear this case now," Lawrence Lustberg, one of the plaintiffs; attorneys, told
NorthJersey.com on July 9. [2025] "doing so will bring us one step closer to erasing the disgrace of the fact that most segregated school systems the nation.
..... "The court's acceptance of the case at this stage makes it less likely that yet another generation of New Jersey public school students will not get the benefits of the equality that our constitution demands and the educational benefits that all agree flow from integrated and diverse schools," Lustberg said.
..... The
Attorney General's Office declined to comment on the development.
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A court date is not yet scheduled.
Ways to relax residency rule
..... A legal solution to the problem of de facto segregation in schools has the potential to transform how children are matched with schools in New Jersey, where for decades municipality have exercised local control over 600-odd school districts of varying sizes and vastly differing demographics.
..... The plaintiffs' goal is not to repeal the residency status, but to find "ideas that will require relaxing it," such as creating magnet schools that attract students across municipal lines, Lustberg told NorthJersey.com in June. [2025]
..... Lougy's 2023 ruling agreed with many, but not all, of the plaintiffs; allegations. Loughy ruled that the state had indeed failed to remedy segregation in schools, but he did not say the state had violated laws and did not order changes to its residency statute.
..... That appellate court also granted permission to a group called the New Jersey Policy Institute that has asked the sate to expand its little-known inter-district school choice program, one of several solutions offered by the plaintiffs. The group is not affiliated with the plaintiffs, and it had field a separate request to make oral arguments in the case.