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 A federal judge gave preliminary approval Friday to a settlement
in a Little Rock desegregation lawsuit that would phase out special
court-ordered payments after the 2017-18 school year.
The end would come 60 years after the eyes of the nation first were
riveted on Little Rock, when President Dwight Eisenhower in 1957
ordered federal troops to ensure safe passage for nine black
students walking through angry crowds into the doors of the
predominantly white Little Rock Central High School.
U.S. District Judge Price Marshall said Friday that the settlement
appeared to be legal — an important hurdle. He set a hearing for
Jan. 13-14 to determine whether it's fair to the state, the school
districts, the children and educators involved in the case.
"This is not the end," Marshall said. "But I hope this is the
beginning of the end."
For at least some of those who were there for the beginning,
Friday's court action rekindled decades of powerful emotions of
distrust and frustration.
"Wow! That's interesting — I wasn't aware they were at that stage,"
said Terrance Roberts, one of the original Little Rock Nine escorted
into Central High in 1957. But Roberts wasn't rejoicing Friday.
Rather, it's "business as usual," he said.
Roberts, who was a high school junior when he helped integrate
Central High, later returned as a desegregation consultant for the
Little Rock School District in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He
said he was relieved of his duties before all of his proposals were
implemented.
"Even though on the surface they gave the impression that they were
willing to follow the dictates of the federal government to
desegregate, there was not only a great reluctance, there was an
unwillingness to really move in that direction," Roberts said in a
telephone interview from St. Louis, where he was attending the
screening of a documentary about the federal judge who ordered the
desegregation of Central High.
The lawsuit moving toward a settlement is not the same one that
spurred the school's integration. But it still has deep roots. It
dates to 1982 and has resulted in more than $1 billion of state
spending on desegregation efforts in the Little Rock, North Little
Rock and Pulaski County school districts.
Much of the extra state money that flowed to the districts — a
combined $70 million per year — went to magnet schools, which focus
on particular programs such as the arts and sciences. As a result,
the Little Rock district has been able to attract students from the
predominantly white suburbs into the now predominantly black urban
areas. Central High, for example, is among the top schools in the
state with its magnet program, but it also has traditional
educational program and a wide mix of students.
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Under the settlement, students could finish those magnet courses but
the special payments that help fund their transportation and
programs would eventually come to an end.
For the next several years, annual payments would continue at $37.3
million for Little Rock, $20.8 million for Pulaski County and $7.6
million for North Little Rock. The final year of payments would be
devoted toward school facilities — which in many cases remain in
need of improvement — but could not to be used for athletics or
administration buildings.
John Walker, a civil rights attorney who represents black school
patrons in the desegregation case, said the districts will still
need supervision to ensure they're meeting their end of the bargain.
He has pledged to file another lawsuit if the Little Rock district
doesn't make progress.
"The only thing historic about (the settlement) is that the state no
longer will have to pay money after four years for trying to help
these districts do what they're supposed to do," Walker said after
Friday's hearing.
In case the accord collapses, Marshall set aside time in March at
which the desegregation case could still go to trial.
Two years ago, U.S. District Judge Brian Miller ordered an immediate
end to the desegregation payments, but the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals said he hadn't given everyone involved a full hearing. The
state subsequently asked to end the payments altogether, and a
federal court hearing was set for Dec. 9 on its request. The parties
involved in the case negotiated an agreement before then.
The Little Rock and North Little Rock districts already have been
declared substantially desegregated by federal judges. But the
Pulaski County district has not yet achieved that distinction.
Marshall said he might ask attorneys at the January fairness hearing
to show how the settlement would help the district toward that goal.
[Associated
Press; CHUCK BARTELS]
Associated Press writer
David A. Lieb contributed to this report from Jefferson City, Mo.
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