Opinion ID: 201292
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Racial Imbalance Act

Text: The Racial Imbalance Act (RIA), Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 15, §§ 1I, 1J, 1K; id. ch. 71, §§ 37C, 37D, directs the Massachusetts Board of Education to remedy de facto segregation in the public -10- schools throughout the state. See Sch. Comm. of Boston v. Bd. of Educ., 227 N.E.2d 729, 732 (Mass. 1967). The legislature enacted the RIA in response to findings that dramatic levels of racial imbalance in the public schools threatened to harm students' educational opportunities. See id. at 733-34. The RIA has two main effects: it authorizes the Board to fund voluntary efforts to improve racial balance, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 15, § 1I, and it allows the Board to require that school districts adopt integration plans in certain circumstances, id. ch. 71, § 37D. The Lynn school system has received significant state aid under the voluntary provisions of the RIA. These funds have helped pay for new construction and school renovations.5 Lynn also receives a state stipend of $500 for each desegregative student transfer, and the state defrays certain costs associated with cross-neighborhood transportation and the creation of magnet schools.