FBI searches LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho’s home, office
Law enforcement officers served a search warrant today at the home and office of Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, according to several law enforcement sources.
The Department of Justice confirmed that a search was being carried out. Other law enforcement sources said the searches took place Carvalho’s Los Angeles office and San Pedro home.
When asked about searches at Carvalho’s home and office, U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Ciaran McEvoy confirms there is a search pursuant to a court-issued warrant, but made no further comment. Calls to FBI officials have not yet been returned.
Additional details about the search were not available. An affidavit filed in support of the searches was under seal, authorities said.
LAUSD officials have not yet released a formal statement regarding the presence of federal agents at their L.A. facility. The specific focus of the investigation is currently unknown.
Carvalho has been chief of the nation’s second-largest school system since February 2022. He was unanimously reappointed by the school board last year. Before arriving in Los Angeles, Carvalho headed the Miami-Dade County Public Schools for 14 years.
On Tuesday, Carvalho, College Board CEO David Coleman and L.A. Unified leaders held a news conference to announce “unprecedented gains” in Advanced Placement participation and performance.
It’s unknown if there is any link to Wednesday’s investigation, but the U.S. Department of Justice moved last week to intervene in a federal lawsuit alleging that LAUSD discriminates against White students through its decades-old Predominantly Hispanic, Black, Asian or Other Non-Anglo desegregation program.
The policy provides certain schools additional resources and gives some students an edge in magnet admissions based on neighborhood racial demographics, according to the lawsuit.
“Treating Americans equally is not a suggestion — it is a core constitutional guarantee that educational institutions must follow,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement announcing the intervention. “This Department of Justice will never stop fighting to make that guarantee a reality, including for public-school students in Los Angeles.”
A spokesperson for LAUSD said last week that because the matter involves pending litigation, the district is unable to comment on the specifics. However, Los Angeles Unified “remains firmly committed to ensuring all students have meaningful access to services and enriching educational opportunities,” the spokesperson said.
The lawsuit, filed last month by the 1776 Project Foundation, contends that LAUSD’s PHBAO designation amounts to unconstitutional race-based discrimination. The conservative nonprofit argues the policy disadvantages students based on the racial makeup of their schools.
In a court filing, the Justice Department said LAUSD administers “a race, color, and national origin-based preference system” that classified schools as PHBAO when 70% or more of the resident student population fits within the district’s definition of Hispanic, Black, Asian and other non-Anglo.
According to the filing, schools designated as PHBAO receive additional staffing that lowers the student-teacher ratio by roughly 5.5 students per teacher than comparable to non-PHBAO schools. They are also required to hold two parent-teacher conferences annually, and students in those attendance zones receive priority points in the district’s magnet school admissions process.
“LAUSD treats attending school with non-Whites as a disadvantage equal to attending an overcrowded school,” the Justice Department said.
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