Opinion ID: 792253
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Undue Harm

Text: 111 A narrowly tailored plan ensures that no member of any racial group is unduly harmed. Grutter, 539 U.S. at 341, 123 S.Ct. 2325. Parents argue that every student who is denied his or her choice of schools because of the integration tiebreaker suffers a constitutionally significant burden. We agree with the Supreme Court of Washington, however, in its assessment that the District's Plan imposes a minimal burden that is shared equally by all of the District's students. Parents IV, 72 P.3d at 159-60 (noting that the burden of not being allowed to attend one's preferred school is shared by all students equally). As that court noted, it is well established that there [is] no right under Washington law to attend a local school or the school of the student's choice. Id. at 159. 35 Indeed, public schools, unlike universities, have a tradition of compulsory assignment. See Bazemore v. Friday, 478 U.S. 385, 408, 106 S.Ct. 3000, 92 L.Ed.2d 315 (1986) (White, J., concurring) (noting that school boards customarily have the power to create school attendance areas and otherwise designate the school that particular students may attend). When an applicant's qualifications are not under consideration at all, there is no notion that one student is entitled to a place at any particular school. See Comfort, 418 F.3d at 20 (The denial of a transfer under the [District's] Plan is . . . markedly different from the denial of a spot at a unique or selective educational institution.). 112 Moreover, it is undisputed that the race-based tiebreaker does not uniformly benefit one race or group to the detriment of another. At some schools, white students are given preference over nonwhite students, and, at other schools, nonwhite students are given preference over white students. For example, in the 2000-01 school year, 89 more white students were assigned to Franklin, one of Seattle's most popular schools, than would have been assigned absent the tiebreaker; 107 more nonwhite students were assigned to Ballard, another of Seattle's most popular schools, than would have been assigned absent the tiebreaker; 27 more nonwhite students were assigned to Nathan Hale than would have been assigned absent the tiebreaker; and 82 more nonwhite students were assigned to Roosevelt than would have been absent the tiebreaker. 36 113 In sum, because (1) the District is entitled to assign all students to any of its schools, (2) no student is entitled to attend any specific school and (3) the tiebreaker does not uniformly benefit any race or group of individuals to the detriment of another, the tiebreaker does not unduly harm any students in the District.