The NAACP Legal Defense Fund sent a letter to the Florida Department of Education earlier this month asking it to take action against schools that ban students from sporting dreadlocks, braids and other traditionally African-American hairstyles. The letter, which calls such hair policies racially discriminatory, comes after a HuffPost investigation into the issue.

The HuffPost investigation found that at least 20 percent of private schools participating in Floridas Hope Scholarship Program have strict hair policies with distinct racial undertones. Six schools ban or regulate dreadlocks, Afros and braids. The NAACP LDF cites this data , saying the policies are either discriminatory on their face or may lead to discriminatory application against African-American students.

The Florida Hope Scholarship is a voucher program that gives publicly funded scholarships to kids who have experienced bullying. However, many of the schools that participate in this program either ban LGBTQ students or have strict hair policies that disproportionately affect African-American students.

This issue jumped to the spotlight in August after a video of a 6-year-old student being turned away from a private school in Florida went viral. The student, Clinton Stanley Jr. , sported dreadlocks. The school, A Books Christian Academy, bans such hairstyles in its handbook.