A Glencoe Elementary School parent on Monday filed a federal lawsuit alleging that Portland Public Schools has engaged in race-based discrimination by using a staffing formula that partly prioritizes more full-time employees for schools with higher percentages of students who are Black, Hispanic, Native American or Pacific Islander.

The lawsuit , filed in U.S. District Court in Portland by a legal team that includes a former state lawmaker, represents a significant challenge to what the school district calls “equity funding”: a formula that considers poverty and which races have been historically underserved by the district when awarding additional staff. (Race is a small fraction of the overall formula.)

The lawsuit also alleges that the Portland School Board’s decision to move fundrai

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