Opinion ID: 481732
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Student Crossover.

Text: 38 Both the county and city school boards maintain open door policies, allowing any school-age Alabama resident to attend their schools. Practically speaking, of course, this student crossover usually occurs only between adjacent school districts such as Brewton and Escambia County. The details of this crossover reveal, however, that relatively few Brewton students attend county schools. 39
40 Forty-four city residents attend the county schools. Majority Op. at 773; Dist.Ct.Op. at 4. What is left unsaid by the district court is that the county schools have over 5,700 students, and thus the 44 city residents comprise less than 1% of the students in the county school system. Because (in part) of these 44 city students in the county schools, the defendants argue that the City of Brewton residents have a substantial interest in the operation of the county schools. Forty-four students out of 5,700, however, seems much closer to the situation in Phillips v. Andress, where the few crossovers did not create a significant interest in the county schools. 634 F.2d at 950. 41 Both the majority and district court opinions note that the crossover in the other direction, from county to city, is 330 students. Thus, of the 1,500 students in the city schools, over 20% of them reside outside of the city. Contrary to the arguments of the defendants in this case, this would suggest that if any group has an interest in the other's schools, it would be the county residents who have an interest in the city schools. County residents, however, are not permitted to vote to elect the Brewton City Council, which appoints the city board of education. 42 Viewed from an angle somewhat more favorable to the defendants in this case, the 44 city residents attending county schools represent about 3.4% of all school-age city residents. Thus, a small but not completely insignificant percentage of city children are being educated in the county. Nevertheless, this percentage, and the small absolute number it represents, does not, for me, rise to the level of creating a substantial interest. 43 Perhaps even more important than the small crossover involved is the applicability of the concept, drawn from another area of the law, that school officials are under no duty to adjust for the purely private acts of those who chose to vote with their feet. Davis v. East Baton Rouge Parish School Board, 721 F.2d 1425, 1435 (5th Cir.1983). It is my view that the parents of the 44 city residents who attend county schools have voted with their feet. For whatever reason, those parents have chosen to send their children to the county schools rather than the city schools over which they rightly have voting influence. The voluntary choice of this small group does not provide a sufficient justification to allow the 6,600 Brewton residents voting influence in the county school system. 3 44
45 The district court lists, as one component of the interest city residents have in the county schools, the cooperation between the two school systems in providing programs for the multi-handicapped and the trainable mentally retarded students. The county maintains a school for one group, while the city maintains facilities for the other. Yet, as important as these programs may be, they involve only 5 or 6 students in each school. Record, Vol. 2, at 13. As with the 44 students in the regular schools, I do not consider these numbers sufficient to create a substantial interest. 46
47 Another factor mentioned to support a substantial interest is the fact that the county maintains a summer school system, while the city does not. The attendance figures presented by the court below, however, are somewhat misleading. Fifty-one of the 88 students (in 1984) who attended one summer school run by the county were from the city. Dist.Ct.Op. at 4. This ignores, however, the fact that the county runs more than one summer school, and that city residents attend only the school closest to the city. Record, Vol. 2, at 26-28. The record does not reflect the total number of summer students in schools run by the county. Thus, it is impossible to know what percentage of the summer school students the 51 city residents comprise. Of course, the county board of education, elected in part by the city residents, controls and operates the county's entire summer program, not just the one school attended by city residents.4. Vocational Center. 48 Pursuant to a joint venture agreement, the county and city share a vocational center. Numerically speaking, this program represents the city's largest group of students who crossover to attend county classes. Over the five years preceding the district court's ruling, an annual average of 83 city residents attended classes at the center, representing about 43% of the total enrollment at the center. 49 5. Overall. 50 Forty-four students, or less than 1% of the county's total enrollment, simply does not suggest a substantial interest of the city in the county schools. Even including all of the special programs, the city crossover is less than 4% of the county's enrollment. Yet, as discussed in the following section, the special programs are conducted pursuant to voluntary agreement between the city and the county; these agreements are of the type explicitly discussed in the Creel opinion as rendering electoral participation in the selection of county school board members by residents of the city school districts unnecessary. 531 F.2d at 289 (emphasis in original). Whether or not the special programs are considered in assessing student crossover, the small numbers seen here do not begin to create the substantial interest needed to uphold the challenged voting scheme. 51 If the crossover of 44 students is held to be sufficient to create a substantial interest by the city in the county schools, the effect of the court's ruling today may be to encourage Escambia County, and counties across Alabama, to close their open doors. If an open door policy and some neighborly cooperation on special programs gives rise to a loss of voting control by the non-city residents of a county, this court is creating a strong impetus against such cooperation. 52