The Justice Department announced Thursday that federal money for magnet schools cannot be awarded using unconstitutional race-based criteria, pointing to a new opinion from its Office of Legal Counsel that sets limits on how the Department of Education runs one of its grant programs. The opinion focuses on the Magnet Schools Assistance Program, or MSAP, a competitive grant system that provides federal dollars to school districts.
What the Opinion Says
According to the Justice Department, the Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion clarifying limits on the Department of Education's authority to consider race when administering MSAP. The department describes MSAP as a federal grant program designed to promote voluntary school desegregation and expand educational opportunities for students through competitive grants to school districts. Per the announcement, the opinion reaffirms the federal government's longstanding support for magnet schools while making clear that federal assistance cannot be conditioned on unconstitutional race-based criteria.
The Justice Department's own framing threads a narrow needle: magnet schools themselves are not in jeopardy, but the legal rules for how applicants qualify for funding are being tightened. The DOJ release links to the full opinion and explains the standard of review, the required showing, and which race-related goals cannot alone justify grants.
How the Grant Program Is Built
MSAP's statutory language shows how race and geography have historically intersected in the program. The relevant section of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as excerpted by the Department of Education, requires that students residing in the local attendance area of a proposed magnet school program receive equitable consideration for placement, consistent with desegregation guidelines and the capacity of the applicant to accommodate them. The same provision includes a special rule: no grant may be awarded unless the Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights determines that specified assurances will be met.
Separately, a Federal Register notice published in March 2024 describes MSAP as providing grants to local educational agencies and consortia of local educational agencies to create or revise magnet schools under required or voluntary desegregation plans, according to the filing. Applicant guidance posted the same month on the Education Department's discretionary grants site states that voluntary MSAP plans should explain how a local educational agency intends to eliminate, reduce, or prevent what the agency calls Minority Group isolation, either in the proposed magnet schools themselves or in the schools that would otherwise feed into them.
Program Status and Open Questions
A Department of Education webpage lists the FY 2024 Magnet Schools Assistance Program grant competition as closed, though that detail comes from a low-confidence search snippet and the status of later competitions is not addressed in available materials. The evidence reviewed does not establish how the new opinion will affect specific applicants, currently active grants, or future MSAP funding rounds, nor does it identify any particular school district, grant recipient, or enforcement action tied to Thursday's announcement.
The legal backdrop for the opinion includes Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which, per the federal statute compiled at uscode.house.gov, prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance. The opinion also discusses constitutional requirements, including the Equal Protection Clause, in addressing how race may factor into magnet school funding decisions.
