For years, the low representation of Black and Hispanic students in New York City’s most selective public high schools has ignited debate over race and segregation in the largest school system in the United States — and this summer appears likely to be no different.

On Thursday, the Department of Education announced that Black students received 3 percent of acceptance letters to the eight elite schools, known as specialized high schools, while Hispanic students were offered just under 7 percent of all spots. Both figures were a slight decline from last year.

At Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, the most selective of the specialized schools, eight of the 781 offers this spring went to Black students while 27 went to Hispanic pupils. Asian students were offered 509 spots, and white students were offered 142. (Another 95 seats went to teenagers who identify as multiracial or whose background was unknown.)

The specialized schools educate about 5 percent of the city’s high school students. But they have long been viewed as a ladder into the nation’s top universities for students from immigrant households and low-income families.

During the last four decades, Black and Hispanic enrollment at these schools has plummeted as Asian representation has soared. The numbers stand out in a public school system in which 42 percent of students are Hispanic, 20 percent are Black, 19 percent are Asian and 16 percent are white. (Three percent of students are multiracial or Native American.)

School integration has waned as a political issue in New York in the last five years. Still, the issue — including candidates’ stances on the specialized high schools — could emerge as a sticking point for some voters in this fall’s crowded general election for mayor.