Justice Department Opinion Limits Use of Race in Magnet Schools Grant Program

The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion on Thursday, November 5, 2026, setting limits on the Department of Education's authority to consider race when administering the Magnet Schools Assistance Program (MSAP), the department said.

According to the Justice Department, MSAP is a federal grant program that awards competitive grants to school districts to promote voluntary school desegregation and expand educational opportunities.

The opinion says the program's statutory and regulatory framework ties funding to race-based concepts such as "minority-group isolation" and the use of racial data in funding decisions. As a result, the opinion concludes the program must be evaluated under strict scrutiny, the department said. Under that standard, according to the opinion, the Education Department may approve grants only when an applicant shows its use of race is narrowly tailored to remedy a specific, identified instance of illegal discrimination. Grants based solely on goals such as increasing racial diversity, reducing racial isolation or altering racial balance cannot be approved, the opinion states.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Joshua Craddock, who signed the opinion, said the program can continue if it is administered constitutionally. Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser said funding decisions may turn on a school's racial composition only in exceptionally rare circumstances.

The Justice Department said it will work with the Education Department to ensure MSAP awards comply with the opinion's requirements.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/807