# NYC Council targets Asian students in admissions push

> Two progressives want to limit access to elite high schools by excluding students from heavily Asian neighborhoods.
- Title: NYC Council targets Asian students in admissions push
- Summary: Two progressives want to limit access to elite high schools by excluding students from heavily Asian neighborhoods. Proposed changes to NYC's specialized…
- Keywords: nantasha williams, lincoln restler, nyc council, specialized high schools, shsat, stuyvesant high school, bronx science, discovery program, asian american students, school admissions, new york city, betty rosa
- Source: New York Post — https://nypost.com/2026/09/15/opinion/council-progressives-aim-to-hide-public-school-failure-via-outright-racial-discrimination
- Published: 2026-09-16T00:52:50+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: nantasha williams, lincoln restler, nyc council, specialized high schools, shsat, stuyvesant high school, bronx science, discovery program, asian american students, school admissions, new york city, betty rosa
## Blocking Asian students from elite schools
NYC Council members Nantasha Williams and Lincoln Restler want to change admissions to top public high schools, targeting areas with large Asian populations.
## Hide the problem, not fix it
The proposal follows the same approach as state Education Commissioner Betty Rosa: eliminate tests that expose how poorly K-8 schools prepare black and Hispanic students.
## Kill the test entirely
Williams and Restler wrote to the mayor and schools chancellor urging more admissions outside the race-blind SHSAT process, ideally eliminating the test altogether.
## The Discovery program loophole
They want to limit the summer Discovery prep program to the city's 15 poorest districts. This would cut out 90% of low-income Asian kids.
## Asian poverty rates ignored
Citywide poverty rates for Asian-American students match or exceed those for blacks and Latinos. Asians just live in more economically diverse neighborhoods.
## Reducing one minority for another
The Asian Wave Alliance calls out the odious principle: racial diversity that requires reducing opportunities for one minority group to increase another's.

> You don't assess a fish on climbing a tree because fish can't climb trees.
## Key takeaway

Proposed changes to NYC's specialized high school admissions would disproportionately exclude low-income Asian students in the name of diversity.