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This story was originally published on EdSource.

Many supporters and advocates of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Black Student Achievement Plan are beginning the school year with renewed hope after the school board voted to boost the program’s 2025-26 funding with an additional $50 million.   

Their optimism comes after years of challenges, from the broadening of BSAP after a complaint lodged by the conservative group Parents Defending Education, which argued the program discriminated against students of other races and backgrounds, to ongoing federal threats to programs that support diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). 

“LAUSD remains steadfast in its commitment to supporting all students, including Black students,” said a Los Angeles Unified spokesperson in a statement to EdSource. 

BSAP is less geared toward direct academic support, but it aims to provide more holistic support to Black students. It provides additional counseling and restorative justice staff, incorporates cultural activities, and facilitates field trips, including visits to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

The program involves exactly the kind of support that students like Kei’Shawn Henderson say makes a difference in their lives.  

As a foster student used to living with uncertainty, Henderson was accustomed to new beginnings and largely kept to himself when he transitioned to West Adams Preparatory High School. 

But as the weeks rolled by, Henderson received an invitation to an event run by the school’s Black Student Achievement Plan, where students came together and ate fufu, a Jamaican dish, and decorated stuffed bears. 

What he saw was community. And, with the constant urging of his peers and staff to participate, Henderson slowly felt himself opening up. 

“They kind of encouraged me to step outside my comfort zone … and express myself,” Henderson said. “Even if I felt like I was nervous at certain times and I didn’t want to participate in certain things, they just didn’t let me be alone.” 

Henderson is one of thousands of students in Los Angeles Unified who have benefited from the Black Student Achievement Plan. The program was approved by the school board in 2021 to close achievement gaps between Black and non-Black students and provide additional support to roughly 50 campuses that collectively educate roughly a third of LAUSD’s Black students, who make up roughly 7% of the district’s student population. 

‘Everybody needs extra support’: Progress among Black students

Students and teachers alike have maintained that BSAP makes a difference in Black students’ experience and performance. 

And while the progress hasn’t always been linear, some metrics indicate the gap between Black students and LAUSD’s entire student population has narrowed since BSAP’s implementation in 2021, including when it comes to A-G completion rates, which have seen the gap close by 2.3 percentage points, according to district data. 

“It’s powerful — just how the employees show up and be there for you,” Henderson said. 

But not every area has seen that same level of improvement, including four-year graduation rates. 

“Everybody needs extra support, and there’s some students that may not be getting that individually — because maybe teachers are too busy, or the classrooms are packed,” said Caleel Smith, an incoming senior at Dorsey High School, stressing the importance of the program’s staff. “BSAP isn’t just like a program. … [It’s] a promise to Black students that you can always help them, and their voices won’t really be silent.”

A rocky path 

BSAP’s journey hasn’t always been straightforward. 

Two years ago, the program weathered the complaint that it violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, both major milestones in the promotion of civil rights for Black Americans. 

This led the district to revamp the program in 2024 and state that it would consider other factors beyond race in determining eligible campuses, extending support to students of various backgrounds. 

“If statistically and academically, the lowest [performing] students have been African American students, why wouldn’t a good teacher, a good school have a plan to help them gain academically?” said Ebony Batiste, a restorative justice teacher at 74th Street Elementary. 

Also, since BSAP began, implementation hasn’t been consistent across the district, educators and local advocates claim. Not all BSAP campuses have maintained a full staff, and some schools in lower-income communities say they feel they have been left behind. 

“It’s just an injustice to our students. It’s an injustice to the families. We’re in a low-income area,” said Lupe Torres, a seventh grade English and history teacher at Western Avenue T.E.C.H. Magnet. “We know that our parents are busy trying to survive, and we know that this would not fly in another area.” 

Torres and Dania Ward, the campus’ BSAP secondary counselor, said the school has faced resistance in getting field trips approved; they are concerned about losing funds they didn’t spend as a result. 

At the same school, Joyce Jennings, a seventh grade math and science teacher, said she has noticed BSAP staff, particularly untenured ones, fulfilling other roles. 

“The District is committed to providing students with meaningful access to BSAP services and enriching opportunities beyond the classroom,” a district spokesperson said in a statement to EdSource. “Central offices approve BSAP-sponsored field trips to ensure students benefit from these valuable opportunities.” 

The district added that they work with BSAP staff to make the most of their budgets. 

“I came to LAUSD, very, very, very excited to work with the BSAP program and to be working to assist and help our Black students thrive,” Ward said. “And so, when I came here and have been getting the resistance, seeing the lack of support from admin and the district that I have been experiencing, I’ve just been tremendously disappointed.

“But, I am here for the students. I came for them. I stay for them. I fight for them, and I don’t want to leave because of the lack of support for the program and abandon the kids who still deserve to have the support.”

New money

When LAUSD’s school board added $50 million more to BSAP to its 2025-26 budget, it brought the total for the program to $175 million. 

“The additional funding in BSAP is just a real testament to the power of community, to the power of students and parents really taking ownership of what they want to see in their education,” said Christian Flagg, the director of training at Community Coalition, a local grassroots organization that has worked to promote equity in Los Angeles schools. 

“It’s a testament to the value that our community holds with education, with our history, with our culture,” he said. 

According to a Los Angeles Unified spokesperson, the district will work closely with both staff and stakeholders to determine how the money will be used.  

“It is the expectation that schools with BSAP services be implemented with fidelity,” the spokesperson said in a statement to EdSource. “BSAP administrators will continue to support all schools to ensure that this occurs.” 

The district says the additional funds will support programming at other campuses. 

While BSAP has remained resilient so far, supporters have emphasized that they will need to keep up the momentum, particularly during the current presidential administration. 

“This administration has been more and more aggressive in trying to press its kind of ideological pieces on school districts, on other government institutions,” Flagg said. “So we know that that fight is going to continue.”