Fairfax Judge Denies Request Related To TJ Admissions Policy

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — On Tuesday, a Fairfax County Circuit Court judge denied a preliminary injunction request to require the standardized admissions test for Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.

In October 2020, the Fairfax County School Board voted to eliminate the TJ admissions test and $100 application fee and expand the freshman class to 500. In December, the school board chose a holistic review admissions process for the highest-evaluated students and raised the minimum grade-point average and the course requirements for admission. Under the new admissions policy, the top 1.5 percent of the eighth grade class at each public middle school meeting the minimum standards will be eligible for admission, and the 550 spots would be offered to the highest-evaluated students. The admissions change starts with the selection of the class of 2025, the incoming freshman class for next school year.

The changes seek to improve diversity at the admissions-based governor's school and improve access to underserved students. The high school is often named the top high school in Virginia and among the top in the nation in U.S. News and World Report's annual list, but numbers of Black and Hispanic students have been few in numbers. In fact, TJ's 486 students selected for the class of 2024 included a number of Black students identified as "too small for reporting."

In November, parents of 17 middle school students classified as gifted students filed a lawsuit in response to the school board's decision to eliminate the admissions test. The lawsuit sought to obtain preliminary and permanent injunctions requiring the school board and superintendent to reinstate testing. The Coalition for TJ, the group associated with the lawsuit, believes a standardized admissions test is required for a governor's school like TJ for gifted students.

In his decision, Judge John M. Tran noted TJ's designation as a school for gifted students.

"The debate over whether admission to Ti is restricted solely to students who have been identified as "gifted" is misdirected," said Tran in the decision. "Under the standard of demurrer, the Court determined that TJ, as a Governor's School, is a school solely for gifted students. The evidence, as a whole, presented at the hearing does not alter this determination."

However, Tran concluded the Virginia Department of Education did not impose an admission standard or process for admission to governor's schools, leaving these schools to create their own admissions policies and procedures.

"Absent a clear mandate from either the General Assembly or the Board of Education directing the use of standardized testing for admission into a Governor's School or other programs for the gifted, the School Board's decision to eliminate standardized testing does not appear to be subject to reversal under judicial review," said Tran in the decision.

In response to the ruling, School Board Chair Ricardy Anderson said, "We are extremely pleased with the court’s ruling. We firmly believe the Board’s decision is authorized by law. But, more importantly, access to TJ will now be available to a broader and more diverse student population which is long overdue.”

On Feb. 1, applications for TJ admission opened for the 2021-2022 school year. The deadline to apply is Feb. 26.