A New York City Board of Education test for public teaching applicants violates the Civil Rights Act because it discriminates against African-American and Latino applicants, a federal judge has ruled.

Southern District Judge Kimba Wood held the Liberal Arts and Sciences Test 2, or LAST-2, replaced by the city last year, had a disparate impact on minority applicants in violation of Title VII and was not sufficiently job-related.

The ruling Friday in Gulino v. The Board of Education of the City School District of the City of New York, 96-cv-8414, came in its 19th year of litigation and before its third federal judge. Wood said the Board of Education (BOE) failed to show the test was properly validated.