(CN) - Two Los Angeles school programs that take race or ethnicity into consideration when admitting students do not violate anti-discrimination laws, a California appeals court ruled.
The American Civil Rights Foundation challenged the Los Angeles Unified School District's Permit With Transportation and Magnet programs.
Because both programs take a participant's race into account, the foundation said they violated Proposition 209, which prohibits favorable or discriminatory treatment on the basis of race or ethnicity.
However, Justice Kriegler affirmed the trial court's ruling that the programs are exempt from Proposition 209 because they are part of a court-ordered integration plan that was approved in 1981 - 15 years before Proposition 209 went into effect.
"In that the 1981 order has never been reversed, vacated, or overruled, it remains in effect," Kriegler wrote, "and the programs fall beyond the reach of Proposition 209."
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