Crawford

Donald Bruce Crawford sued the Huntington Beach Union High School District and the California Department of Education (collectively the District unless the context indicates otherwise), contending the racial and ethnic balancing component of the District’s open-transfer policy violates Proposition 209 (Cal. Const., art. I, § 31). He appeals the judgment entered after the trial court denied his motion for summary judgment and granted the District’s. We agree with his contention on appeal—that the policy violates Proposition 209. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment.

I

The Transfer Policy

The District has an open transfer policy for all its high schools. The open-transfer policy has a “racial and ethnic balance” component as required by section 35160.5 of the state Education Code. This statute dictates that “school districts shall retain the authority to maintain appropriate racial and ethnic balances among their respective schools at the school districts’ discretion or as specified in applicable court-ordered or voluntary desegregation plans.”

There are six high schools in the District, but the only high school affected by the one-for-one same race exchange policy,…