The Lower Merion School District operates six elementary schools, two middle schools, and two high schools: Lower Merion High School and Harriton High school. In 2004, Lower Merion had 1,600 students enrolled, and Harriton had just 900.
As part of a capital improvement program, the school board decided to build two new high schools and to equalize enrollment between them at about 1,250 students per school. The board concluded that this would enhance the schools' sense of community, would provide better student-faculty interactions, and better educational outcomes. To do so, however, would require redistricting.
During the re-districting process, the school board and its advisors considered a series of different plans. Their goals were to (1) equalize the enrollment of the high schools, (2) assign elementary school enrollment so that every school was at or under capacity, (3) keep the number of school buses constant, (4) give the class of 2010 the choice whether to follow the redistricting plan, and (5) predicate the plan on expected future needs and not past practices. "Diversity," including racial diversity, was a value that was considered the redistricting process to be valuable in both high schools.
The plan that was eventually proposed and accepted was one in which students who previously were able to attend -- and, indeed, walk -- to Lower Merion High School from a heavily African American neighborhood were redistricted to Harriton High School. Nine African American students who would otherwise have gone to Lower Merion High School were, instead, routed to Harriton. Six of those students lived within a mile of the Lower Merion High School building.
As a result of the change, the nine African American students brought suit, alleging that the district discriminated against them on the basis of race. The District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania held in favor of the district, and the students appealed.
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the redistricting plan was race neutral on its face, because it "neither uses racial classification as a factor in student assignment nor distributes any burdens or benefits on the basis of racial classification." The Court noted that a racial classification only occurs where an action "distributes burdens or benefits on the basis of race." Mere awareness of race, however, is insufficient to rise to this level. More -- specifically discriminatory purpose -- is required. As such, the Third Circuit concluded that rational basis review, and not strict scrutiny, was appropriate.
On rational basis review, the district was only required to show that it's plan was rationally related to a legitimate state interest. Under this forgiving standard, the plan was affirmed as obviously related to the stated goals of enrollment equalization, school overcrowding, and better educational outcomes.