
Now the state is fighting a lawsuit filed by a coalition of nonprofits alleging it sends tens of thousands of Black and Latino students to segregated schools that are just 1% white.

For two decades, lawmakers allowed wealthy towns to pay their way out of their court-mandated housing obligations, and students in those municipalities generally attended much less diverse schools, Gothamist found. But the doctrine, which is still in effect, has a tattered history of enforcement. The unusual legal mandate known as the Mount Laurel Doctrine was the first of its kind in the country to incentivize low-cost housing production through municipal zoning rules.
