A Washington, D.C.-based law firm known for opposing race-based preferences at schools and universities nationwide is taking aim at Portland Public Schools’ long-time formula for assigning teachers and other staff to schools.

Since 2013, the school district, Oregon’s largest, has taken the demographics of its 81 schools into account while apportioning employees , assigning 2% more funding — and the staff that money can buy – to elementary and K-8 schools that serve concentrations of students from groups that historically have lagged in academics, including Black, Latino, Pacific Islander and Native American students.

Those groups also include special education students and those learning to speak English. High schools also receive so-called “equity funding,” but it is based solely on

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