The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday ruled that race may not be used to decide which public-school kids attend, a historic decision that that could affect millions of students nationwide - including a Brooklyn girl denied entry to an elite school because of her Indian parentage. "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in a sharply split 5-4 ruling.
The decision focused on just two school districts - in Seattle and Louisville, Ky. - in which "diversity-enhancing" systems use race to determine where students should attend school. However, hundreds of schools could be forced to follow suit.
"That's awesome!" said Dr. Ajan Rau after learning of the decision, which could result in his daughter Nikita and others being admitted to the Mark Twain School, IS 239.
"I think it's a landmark decision, because I think quotas in any form are unconstitutional."
As The Post reported Monday, Nikita, 11, was denied entry because of a racial quota system at the Coney Island magnet school for the gifted, even after she outscored some whites on an entry exam. Only one other school in New York City considers race in allocating seats to students.
Asked what the city's Education Department will do about Nikita and other students, spokesman Andrew Jacob said, "After we review this decision and our other legal options, we'll take the appropriate action."
But Schools Chancellor Joel Klein cast a cold eye on the 1974 federal court desegregation order requiring that 60 percent of Mark Twain's student body be white. He called it an "anachronism" at a time when blacks and Latinos make up two-thirds of the city's enrollment.
Klein's remarks suggest he might seek - or at least not oppose any effort - to have the quota order tossed out.
Joseph Tacopina, a lawyer for the Rau family, said, "We're going to wait and see how the school" reacts to the Supreme Court ruling, which he called "an absolutely positive decision."
Tacopina said that if Klein admits Nikita, it would forestall any need for legal action.
In his written decision, Roberts noted that before the court's Brown vs. Board of Education ruling in 1954, which outlawed school segregation, "schoolchildren were told where they could and could not go to school based on the color of their skin."
"The school districts in these cases have not carried the heavy burden of demonstrating that we should allow this once again - even for very different reasons," Roberts wrote.
In dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer said Roberts' opinion undermined integration. "To invalidate the plans under review is to threaten the promise of Brown," he said.
