COURT . . . DESEGREGATION HAS ITS LIMITS

In another 5-4 ruling, the Court ruled that school desegregation plans can be ended if they are no longer remedying the effects of past discrimination. The case involves the controversial desegregation program in the Kansas City, Mo. school district. A decade after its implementation, the state of Missouri wants to stop paying for the costly court-ordered magnet school program. Proponents sayracial discrimination still exists in the districtand the plan should continue until minority students' test scores approach the national average. But Missouri officials argued that their lavishly funded program has provided an equal opportunity for minority students to learn and the state should not be held responsible for what is simply poor academic performance. The decision reverses an earlier appeals court ruling that said desegregation programs must be judged "by their effect on the students."