Opinion ID: 433833
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: quality education improvements.

Text: 129 The settlement plan approved by the district court includes compensatory and remedial programs to improve the quality of education throughout the St. Louis public schools and additional programs for the same purpose in the nonintegrated schools. The district-wide improvements include a reduction in class size; restoration of art, music, physical education, and extracurricular programs; creation of pre-school centers and all-day kindergarten programs; additional staff to address the needs of handicapped students; additional nursing and counseling staff; and expansion of library and other media resources and services. Administrative improvements include curriculum and staff development, evaluation and performance assessment, and enhanced long-range planning. 130 The additional improvements for the nonintegrated schools include a further class-size reduction in grades K through 8, to twenty pupils per teacher; additional remedial instruction time through after-school, Saturday, and summer school programs; parental involvement programs; and alternative education options for black students unable to attend magnet schools. Other programs address motivational needs of students in the all-black schools by stimulating opportunities for student success and recognition, by introducing role models for academic achievement, and by establishing student concerns committees to address the morale, attendance, and behavior issues which emerge during the implementation of the plan. 131
132 This Court suggested the necessity for remedial and compensatory programs in Adams v. United States, supra, 620 F.2d at 1296, and reiterated that need in Liddell V, supra, 677 F.2d at 641-642. We thus approve them in principle as law of the case. See supra p. 1304. Moreover, such programs have solid support in the case law as proper components of a desegregation remedy so long as they relate to the constitutional violation, are remedial in nature, and account for state and local autonomy. Milliken II, supra, 433 U.S. at 280-281, 97 S.Ct. at 2757. 133 In Brown I, the Supreme Court recognized that segregation harms black children by generating a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone. Brown I, supra, 347 U.S. at 494, 74 S.Ct. at 691. In light of this harm, federal courts have often required the inclusion of remedial programs in desegregation plans to overcome the inequalities inherent in dual school systems. Milliken II, supra, 433 U.S. at 283, 97 S.Ct. at 2758. See, e.g., Arthur v. Nyquist, supra, 712 F.2d at 811; Oliver v. Kalamazoo Bd. of Educ., 640 F.2d 782, 789-790 (6th Cir.1980); Evans v. Buchanan, 582 F.2d 750, 767-769 (3d Cir.1978) (en banc), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 923, 100 S.Ct. 1862, 64 L.Ed.2d 278 (1980); United States v. Texas, 447 F.2d 441, 448 (5th Cir.1971); United States v. Jefferson County Bd. of Educ., 380 F.2d 385, 394-395 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 389 U.S. 840, 88 S.Ct. 77, 19 L.Ed.2d 104 (1967); Berry v. School Dist. of Benton Harbor, 515 F.Supp. 344, 369-373 (W.D.Mich.1981), aff'd and remanded, 698 F.2d 813 (6th Cir.1983); United States v. Bd. of School Comm'rs of Indianapolis, 506 F.Supp. 657, 671-673 (S.D.Ind.1979), vacated in part on other grounds, 637 F.2d 1101 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 838, 101 S.Ct. 115, 66 L.Ed.2d 45 (1980). 134 Such programs assist students who previously attended all-Negro schools when those students transfer to formerly all-white schools.... The remedial programs ... are an integral part of a program for compensatory education to be provided Negro students who have long been disadvantaged by the inequities and discrimination inherent in the dual school system. Milliken II, supra, 433 U.S. at 284, 97 S.Ct. at 2759 (emphasis in original), quoting Plaquemines Parish School Bd. v. United States, 415 F.2d 817, 831 (5th Cir.1969). Crucial to the Supreme Court's analysis in Milliken II is the concept that segregation not only inflicts harm on individual black students, but also builds inadequacies [into the]    educational system. Milliken II, supra, 433 U.S. at 284, 97 S.Ct. at 2759 (emphasis added). Thus, to remedy the effects of a dual system which operated for decades with the sanction of law, remedial efforts must also concentrate on systemic educational improvements. 135 A secondary remedial objective of the quality education improvements is to enhance the appeal of the city school system, thereby promoting the chances of a stable and successful voluntary desegregation plan. The exodus of white parents and students out of fear of integration, or white flight, is no excuse for school officials to avoid desegregating. United States v. Scotland Neck City Bd. of Educ., 407 U.S. 484, 491, 92 S.Ct. 2214, 2218, 33 L.Ed.2d 75 (1972); Monroe v. Bd. of Comm'rs, 391 U.S. 450, 459, 88 S.Ct. 1700, 1705, 20 L.Ed.2d 733 (1968). Yet, there is a valid distinction between using the defense of white flight as a smokescreen to avoid integration, and addressing the probability of white flight in attempting to formulate a voluntary plan which would improve the racial balance in the schools without at the same time losing the support and acceptance of the public. Higgins v. Bd. of Educ., 508 F.2d 779, 794 (6th Cir.1974) (emphasis in original); accord Parent Ass'n of Andrew Jackson High School v. Ambach, 598 F.2d 705, 719 (2d Cir.1979). A child's enrollment in a particular school is the result of two decisions: the government's student assignment, and the parents' decision to stay, move, or send their children to private school. Thus, as Professor James Coleman insists, government policies must, to be effective, anticipate parental decisions and obtain the parents' active cooperation. Coleman, New Incentives for Desegregation, 7 Human Rights 10, 13 (1978). Improving the quality of integrated schools consequently promotes parental acceptance of desegregation, and promotes the remedy's success. Gewirtz, Remedies and Resistance, 92 Yale L.J. 585, 652-653 (1983). See also Rossell & Hawley, Policy Alternatives for Minimizing White Flight, 4 Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 205 (1982). 136 The quality improvements for the all-black schools serve a further remedial objective. A strong presumption exists against the constitutional propriety of one-race schools, Swann v. Charlotte Mecklenburg Bd. of Educ., supra, 402 U.S. at 26, 91 S.Ct. at 1281, and any desegregation plan leaving one-race schools must be carefully scrutinized. Id.; Lee v. Macon County Bd. of Educ., 616 F.2d 805, 809 (5th Cir.1980). To overcome this presumption of unconstitutionality, a court must find that the existence of one-race schools is justified in light of the particular facts of the case and the feasibility of other desegregation techniques. Armstrong v. Bd. of School Directors, 616 F.2d 305, 321-322 (7th Cir.1980); Tasby v. Estes, 572 F.2d 1010, 1014-1015 (5th Cir.1978). When no other feasible desegregation techniques exist, then specific remedial programs for students in the remaining one-race schools may be included as a means of ensuring equal educational opportunity. See, e.g., Tasby v. Wright, supra, 713 F.2d at 95-97; Clark v. Bd. of Educ. of Little Rock, supra, 705 F.2d at 272. 15 137 The district court held extensive hearings on the fairness of the quality education component, with lengthy testimony from local and State education officials, a number of expert witnesses, and representatives of the other parties. After reviewing the evidence and the recommendations of the court-appointed financial advisor, the court concluded that the programs fell within the proper remedial scope: 138 The sole purpose for the expenditure of funds under this Plan is to carry out the constitutional responsibility to remove the vestiges of a segregated school system.    139 In no way should any funding provisions presently authorized by the Court be construed to authorize expenditures unrelated to City Board's desegregation obligations under the Constitution and the Settlement Plan as approved. 140 Liddell v. Bd. of Educ., supra, 567 F.Supp. at 1051-1052. 141
142 The position of the State before this Court with respect to the quality education programs is somewhat ambiguous. In its opening brief, it argued that the city and county schools had not agreed to a quality education package and that therefore the district court had nothing to approve. 16 It further asserted that 143 [t]he Quality Education [component] is not only essential from a contractual point of view but also from a constitutional standing. The 15,000 black children in north St. Louis who will not have the opportunity to transfer under the Plan are still victims of constitutional wrongdoing as found by the court. The Quality Education section of the Plan is virtually the only remedy available to those black children to redress their wrong. Without it they stand as victims without redress. 144 State's Opening Brief at 26-27. 145 It concluded by stating that the court did not have the authority to modify the agreement to include the quality education component. 146 In its reply brief, the State changed the focus of its argument and complained that the provisions requiring improvement in the quality of education in the integrated schools were only remotely related to desegregation. It continued to assert this position at oral argument. 147 The State is not a party to the settlement agreement. It thus lacks standing to question the validity of the agreement on its terms. Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 501, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 2206, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975); Fisher v. Tucson School District No. 1, 625 F.2d 834, 837 (9th Cir.1980). Even assuming that the State has standing to raise such a question, the district court found that the parties had a meeting of the minds with respect to the essential terms of the agreement. This finding is not clearly erroneous. 148 The State clearly has standing, however, to challenge the district court's funding order and did so before that court. It renews that challenge here. It argues, in substance, that the court approved funding for general educational improvements in the integrated schools which were unrelated to desegregation. 17 Its argument here is twofold. First, the State contends that these programs may only be approved if the Court can find that they would have been a part of the city school system but for the past unconstitutional segregation. This position misreads the case law and ignores the reality of the harm imposed by segregated schools. The relevant inquiry is not whether, in absence of a de jure dual system, St. Louis schools would have had compensatory and remedial programs. None of the numerous cases cited above approving such programs rested on such a conclusion. The point is that compensatory and remedial education programs are necessary to remedy the effects of discrimination on the victims of segregation and the school system itself. 149 The second aspect of the State's argument is that there are no findings made by the district court, nor sufficient support in the record, to suggest that the quality education improvements are only remedial in nature. 18 The Second Circuit recently observed that the line between remedial purpose and general educational improvements unrelated to desegregation is inevitably blurred: 150 [A] court is entitled to require money for programs that materially aid the success of the overall desegregation effort. A program of that sort is not disqualified for needed funding simply because its inclusion improves the overall quality of the school system. At the same time a court must be alert not to permit a school board to use a court's broad power to remedy constitutional violations as a means of upgrading an educational system in ways only remotely related to desegregation. Striking the balance necessarily requires considerable deference by a district court to the good faith representations of the school authorities    and by a reviewing court to the knowledgeable assessment of a district judge intimately familiar with local conditions. 151 Arthur v. Nyquist, supra, 712 F.2d at 813 (citations omitted). 152 We think that the district court's order is fully supported as it relates to the quality improvements in the nonintegrated schools. Neither the State, the United States, nor the City specifically objects to these improvements. Moreover, they are consistent with the testimony of every expert witness that testified. The reduction in class-size was viewed by the witnesses for the black plaintiffs as critical to raising the achievement levels of black students. The programs designed to intensify remedial instruction, encourage parental involvement, and promote a positive learning climate reflect the objectives that the Supreme Court approved in Milliken II. See Bradley v. Milliken, 402 F.Supp. 1096, 1118-1119 (E.D.Mich.1975), aff'd and remanded, 540 F.2d 229 (6th Cir.1976), aff'd, 433 U.S. 267, 97 S.Ct. 2749, 53 L.Ed.2d 745 (1977). The schools of emphasis assist in providing equal educational opportunity by providing alternative education options for black students unable to attend magnet schools. The motivational programs are designed to bring about productive attitudes towards learning, and are essential in the opinion of expert witnesses called by the black plaintiffs. See Haywood, Compensatory Education, 59 Peabody J. of Educ. 272, 274 (1982). Crain & Mahard, How Desegregation Orders May Improve Minority Academic Achievement, 16 Harv.C.R.-C.L.L.Rev. 693, 702 (1982). 153 Notwithstanding our affirmance in principle of the district court's order insofar as it relates to the all-black schools, we believe that the following modifications to the order should be made so that careful planning and effective implementation may proceed without disruption of the current school year: 154 (1) To the extent that any of the programs have been heretofore instituted, they may be continued. The remaining programs may be instituted at the beginning of the 1984-85 school year. The summer school program may be implemented for the summer of 1984. 155 (2) The reduction in class size from present levels to the 20:1 pupil-teacher ratio should be made over a period of four years beginning in 1984-85. The phased reduction recognizes that as many as 12,500 additional black students may transfer to county schools in the next four years, and that as many as 3,000 more black students may transfer to magnet schools during the same period. By coordinating the class-size reduction with the transfers, student and teacher disruption can be lessened and the construction or rehabilitation of school buildings to house the smaller classes minimized. 156 (3) The amount budgeted for item B.1.01, Coordination of Instruction, should be reduced by one-half. Evelyn F. Luckey, an expert witness for the Liddell plaintiffs, testified that the program could be successfully accomplished within the limits of the reduced amount.(4) The schools of emphasis should be phased in over a two-year period beginning in 1984-85. 157 (5) Detailed planning for the programs in the all-black schools should continue so that the programs can be implemented on schedule. 158 We cannot fully agree with the district court's conclusion that all of the quality education improvements in all schools are closely related to the integration process. While we concur with the Second Circuit's view that a district court should show considerable deference to the good faith representations of the school authorities, and that we should show similar deference to the judgment of the district court, a review of the record leaves us with the firm conviction that the district court erred in approving many of the programs in the quality education budget. 159 We begin our analysis by indicating our areas of agreement with the district court. Initially, we believe there is strong support in the record for approving those programs necessary to permit the city schools to regain, and then retain, their Class AAA status. This standard is developed by the Department of Education of the State of Missouri. See Handbook for Classification and Accreditation of Public School Districts in Missouri (1980). Seventy-four percent of the children attending Missouri public schools attend schools that have this rating. Missouri School Directory (1982-83). The City Board was denied this rating because its classes were too large, it had too many uncertified teachers, it lacked counselors in the elementary grades, it did not provide art, music, and physical education in the elementary grades, and its library and media services were inadequate. 19 160 Second, we find adequate support in the record for preschool centers (budget item A.4.01, $811,000), and for planning and program development (a part of budget item A.1.01, $585,000). Both of these programs are recommended by the State Department of Education, and both have been shown to be closely related to the desegregation process. 161 Third, we find adequate support in the record for all-day kindergartens (budget item A.4.02, $6,129,000); parental involvement (budget item A.8.05); desegregation planning (budget item A.8.13, $41,000); long-range planning (budget item A.8.15, $431,000); and public affairs (budget item A.8.06, $184,000). The all-day kindergarten program serves several important compensatory and remedial objectives. Much of the testimony at the fairness hearings emphasized the importance of focusing desegregation efforts on the earlier grades, as younger children have developed fewer racial prejudices and differences in performance are narrower. See Hawley, Effective Educational Strategies for Desegregated Schools, 59 Peabody J. of Educ. 209, 214 (1982). The additional instruction time will also assist in building prerequisite skills for city pupils. The testimony also emphasized that many of the children came from single-parent families that did not provide them with the skills which would permit them to compete with other children at the first-grade level. See Milliken II, supra, 433 U.S. at 284, 97 S.Ct. at 2759. The all-day kindergarten program is an expensive one which must be implemented carefully if waste is to be avoided, and the full benefits of the program realized. We therefore direct that the program be phased in over a period of at least two years. 162 Parental involvement is similarly emphasized, both in the record and in the literature, as crucial to the success of the desegregation plan. See, e.g., Hawley, Effective Educational Strategies for Desegregated Schools, supra, at 212, 225-226. Because many students will not be attending their neighborhood schools as a result of the student transfers, special parent-staff seminars and other programs will be critical in developing and maintaining parental involvement. The changes involved in implementing the plan, and the future demographic and student enrollment shifts, render long-range planning essential to the successful desegregation of the city schools. The public affairs program is essential to citizen awareness and acceptance of the plan. 163 In light of the foregoing discussion, we approve the district court's funding order insofar as it relates to programs necessary to the city schools to retain their AAA rating. While the record is not entirely clear as to precisely what programs the State required the City Board to institute to regain this rating, it appears that they are budget items A.2.01, library and media services; A.2.02, audio visual services; A.3.01, lower class size; and A.3.02, restoration of art, music, and physical education. It is the intention of the Court that these budget items be implemented only insofar as necessary for the city schools to retain their AAA status. Retaining this status does not include a further class-size reduction in the integrated schools. We also approve the following additional programs: preschool centers, planning and program development, all-day kindergarten, parental involvement, desegregation planning, long-range planning, and public affairs. 164 We cannot, however, find adequate support in the record for the remaining programs. All are desirable, but the City Board has not made the case that they are necessary to provide equal educational opportunities to the children of St. Louis, or are otherwise essential as remedial or compensatory programs. 165
166 The settlement agreement describes the age and condition of the city schools: Generally, they are in a condition of old age, rapid deterioration, and extreme deferred maintenance. Thirty-four of the nonintegrated black schools and twenty-one of the integrated schools are over fifty years old. Nearly one-fourth of the building area in the city schools is over seventy-five years old. Nearly one-half of the building area in the city schools is over sixty-five years old. More than two-thirds of the building area in the city schools is over fifty years old. At the fairness hearing, the district court heard uncontradicted evidence as to the condition of the city school facilities which paralleled that recited in the settlement agreement. 167 In the last twenty-four years, St. Louis voters have defeated thirteen proposed bond issues. The only bond issue to pass during this period was in 1962, and approval came only after resubmission to the voters. Significantly, both of the last two proposed bond issues were approved by a simple majority; the constitutional requirement of two-thirds voter approval, however, blocked passage of these issues. 168 At the fairness hearing, the State argued that more careful planning was required before renovation or new construction programs could be initiated, particularly in light of expected declining enrollment in the city schools. It also argued that the schools were in a deplorable condition because the City School Board had failed to maintain them over the years. It questioned whether certain items were properly included in the capital improvement budget, contending that they were routine maintenance items that should be funded exclusively by the City Board. 169 The district court's order and memorandum did not discuss the facility improvement program at length. It simply stated that 170 (b) the City Board shall submit to its voters, on or before February 1, 1984, a proposed bond issue of an amount determined by the City Board as sufficient to meet those of its capital improvement needs as are deemed necessary to meet its constitutional obligation to desegregate the City's public schools; [and] 171 (c) should that bond issue fail to obtain the two-thirds majority vote required by State law, the Court will consider an appropriate order to obtain the funds deemed sufficient to meet the capital improvement needs of City Board in complying with its constitutional obligation to desegregate the City's public schools. 172 Liddell v. Bd. of Educ., supra, 567 F.Supp. at 1056. 173 Pursuant to that order, the City Board formulated a building program with a total cost of $127 million, with one-half of the total to be financed by the issuance of $63.5 million in City Board bonds. 174 The bond issue was presented to the voters on November 8, 1983, and fifty-five percent of the voters approved the issue. Eighty-four percent of the voters in the predominately black wards voted for the issue, but sixty-five percent of the voters in the predominately white wards voted against it. The bond issue was defeated because it failed to receive a two-thirds majority. 175 On appeal to this Court, the State does not question either the need to improve facilities, nor its obligation to help pay for these improvements. In its opening brief, it argues that if the bond issue fails, the whole plan will fail for lack of funding because it is unfair to expect the State to pay the full costs of the improvements. It also renews its argument that, because the county schools failed to agree to a detailed building program, the settlement agreement as a whole must fail. Finally, it asserts that, in any event, the district court is without authority to enter an order requiring a tax levy to fund the City Board's share of the improvements. In its reply brief, the State simply states that the provision of the order requiring extensive capital improvements is entirely out of proportion to the constitutional violations found by the District Court. 176 The district court did not err in holding that the State had an obligation to pay one-half of the costs of the capital improvement program necessary to restore the city facilities to a constitutionally acceptable level, and we find no merit in the State's suggestion that the district court's order cannot stand because the county districts failed to agree to the details of the facilities improvement program. See supra p. 1315. 177 There is merit to the State's argument that more careful and detailed planning should precede action by the district court and that this planning should identify the projects to be undertaken, establish the cost of each project and set a more specific schedule for the improvements. Planning and scheduling are particularly important in view of the expected decline in enrollment. 178 On remand, therefore, the City Board should promptly identify the projects to be undertaken, estimate the cost of each project, and set a reasonably detailed schedule for the completion of each project. The projects having the highest priority must be scheduled for completion at the earliest possible date. To that end, the City Board should consider the desirability of a referendum on a bond issue which can be initiated at a very early date and a subsequent bond issue for those projects to be built in later years. The State will pay one-half of the cost of preparing the detailed plans and schedules. 179 As soon as the City Board has prepared the new plans, estimates, and schedules, it shall submit them to the Budget Review Committee, discussed infra Section VI, and then to the district court. When the district court has approved them, a new bond issue shall be submitted to the voters. If it is defeated again, the district court shall determine how the improvements will be funded. See infra Section V. 180