Desegregation: Leaving It Up To the Locals

Since the 1960s, when federal judges ordered the desegregation of hundreds of school systems, one key question has gone unanswered: at what point had a system done enough to mix black and white children in the classroom to satisfy the courts?

Last week the Supreme Court edged closer to an answer: it ruled that in many instances, local school districts can determine the means for achieving classroom racial balance. The case involved the public schools of De Kalb County, Ga., which were ordered to desegregate in 1969. After that, large numbers of black families moved into the southern part of the county and sent their children to neighborhood schools. Result: more than half of the 33,752 black students attended 90% black schools, while more than a fourth of the 34,692 white pupils were in schools that were 90% white.

Three years ago, a federal appeals court called for a major desegregation effort. But the Supreme Court overturned that order on the ground that the schools' racial makeup reflects "demographic shifts" the school board could not control. In cases in which segregation is not the result of actions by local officials, wrote Justice Anthony Kennedy, courts cannot force schools to assign students by race. The ruling might encourage other school districts to seek a halt to court-ordered integration also.