Asian American parent groups are suing the New York State Education Department over an extracurricular STEM program for low-income and “historically underrepresented” students that they say unfairly excludes Asian and white students. Advocates for equity in education warn that a ruling in the plaintiff’s favor could further erode efforts to ensure racial integration in schools and workplaces.
The federal lawsuit filed on Wednesday takes aim at the state-funded Science and Technology Program, or STEP, which was enacted in 1985 and offers thousands of eligible seventh-to-12th graders extra lab research opportunities, tutoring and college admissions help.
Participants must be Black, Hispanic or Latino, or Native American — or have a family income below the program’s threshold, which is currently set at $33,874 for a family with two children.
“In other words, the Hispanic child of a multimillionaire is eligible to apply to STEP,” the complaint states. “While an Asian American child whose family earns just above the state’s low-income threshold is not, solely because of her race or ethnicity.”
The plaintiffs claim that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last year that struck down affirmative action in college admissions bolsters the case. One of the plaintiffs, the Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York, or CACAGNY, filed an amicus brief in that case on behalf of Students for Fair Admissions against Harvard and the University of North Carolina.
In a statement, Wai Wah Chin, charter president of CACAGNY, said “the Supreme Court has been very clear.” The first sentence of the lawsuit cites last year’s ruling: “eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.”
The state education department declined to comment on the lawsuit on Thursday.
Over 12,209 students across the state were enrolled in STEP in the 2021-2022 school year, according to a fact sheet from the State Education Department. The vast majority of them —…
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