Opinion ID: 305880
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Segregation of Blacks

Text: 54 The district court held with regard to black students: 55 It is undisputed that at one time the AISD maintained a dual school system with educational opportunities separate and inherently unequal for Blacks. However, unlike many communities elsewhere in the South, the City of Austin has since Brown II adopted a progressive and non-discriminatory policy in the administration of its public schools. The government has made no showing that in the period from 1955 to the present the AISD has intentionally perpetuated segregation of Blacks; the record instead indicates that during this period the school administration's official acts have not been motivated by any discriminatory purpose. The Court therefore deals in this case only with vestiges of state-imposed segregation, in the form of some all-white and all-black schools, that survived under a racially-neutral policy on the part of the local authorities. 56 We hold that the AISD has not dismantled the state-imposed system 35 based on race. 36 The burden on a school board today is to come forward with a plan that promises realistically to work . . . now . . . until it is clear that stateimposed segregation has been completely removed. Green v. County School Bd., 1968, 391 U.S. 430, 439, 88 S.Ct. 1689, 1695, 20 L.Ed.2d 716, 724. 57 There are 2100 black high school students in the AISD. Of these, 916 [43 percent] attend Anderson High School which is 98 percent black, and 619 [29 percent] attend Johnston High School which is 32 percent black and 62 percent Mexican-American. There are 1570 black junior high school students. Of these, 739 [46 percent] attend Kealing which is 98 percent black, and 527 [33 percent] attend Allan and Martin which have 96 and 97 percent minority enrollment respectively. There are 4614 black elementary students. Of these, 3645 [79 percent] attend predominately black elementary schools. There are 18 schools in East Austin with greater than 90 percent minority enrollment. Of these schools, eight are over 95 percent black and 6 have over 90 percent combined black and Mexican-American enrollment. There are 31 schools in the AISD with greater than 90 percent white enrollment. 37 58 The AISD has not fulfilled its affirmative duty to take whatever steps might be necessary to convert to a unitary system in which racial discrimination would be eliminated root and branch. Green v. County School Bd., 1968, 391 U.S. 430, 437-438, 88 S.Ct. 1689, 1694, 20 L.Ed.2d 716, 723.VI. The Relief 59 The objective today remains to eliminate from the public schools all vestiges of state-imposed segregation. Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Bd. of Education, 1971, 402 U.S. 1, 15, 91 S.Ct. 1267, 1275, 28 L.Ed.2d 554. We have held that the AISD has operated and continues to operate a school system which fails to provide equal educational opportunity for Mexican-American and black students. Once a right and a violation have been shown, the scope of a district court's equitable powers to remedy past wrongs is broad, for breadth and flexibility are inherent in equitable remedies. Swann, supra, 402 U.S. at 15, 91 S.Ct. at 1276. 60 The Supreme Court said in Swann, The constitutional command to desegregate schools does not mean that every school in every community must always reflect the racial composition of the school system as a whole. 402 U.S. at 24, 91 S.Ct. at 1280. The district judge or school authorities should make every effort to achieve the greatest possible degree of actual desegregation and will thus necessarily be concerned with the elimination of one-race schools. 402 U.S. at 26, 91 S.Ct. at 1281. (emphasis supplied). The Court recognized the importance of an [a]wareness of the racial composition of the whole school system    in shaping a remedy and, speaking of one-race schools, allminority or all-majority, said: 61 Schools all or predominately of one race in a district of mixed population will require close scrutiny to determine that school assignments are not part of state-enforced segregation. . . . No per se rule can adequately embrace all the difficulties of reconciling the competing interests involved; but in a system with a history of segregation the need for remedial criteria of sufficient specificity to assure a school authority's compliance with its constitutional duty warrants a presumption against schools that are substantially disproportionate in their racial composition. Where the school authority's proposed plan for conversion from a dual to a unitary system contemplates the continued existence of some schools that are all or predominately of one race, they have the burden of showing that such school assignments are genuinely nondiscriminatory. The Court should scrutinize such schools, and the burden upon the school authorities will be to satisfy the court that their racial composition is not the result of present or past discriminatory action on their part. 62 Swann, supra, 402 U.S. at 25-26, 91 S.Ct. at 1281. 63 In short, while precise racial or ethnic balance in each school is not required, and there may even be schools of one race that pass the Swann test, school authorities must convert to a unitary school system-the eradication by affirmative action of all vestiges of segregation. They must achieve the greatest possible degree of actual desegregation. Swann, supra, 402 U.S. at 26, 91 S.Ct. at 1281; Davis v. Board of School Comm'rs, 1971, 402 U.S. 33, 37, 91 S.Ct. 1289, 28 L.Ed.2d 577. One-race schools, all-minority or all-majority, will require close scrutiny; there is a presumption against schools that are substantially disproportionate in their racial composition. Swann, supra, 402 U.S. at 26, 91 S.Ct. at 1281. 64 A. Secondary Schools. The district court's order provided for desegregation of the AISD secondary schools but did not include Mexican-American students in the plan. As we have held, this was erroneous. The school system must be converted to a unitary system on a tri-ethnic, desegregated basis. 38 65 The district court's order requires the closing of two all-black schools and the transfer of the students from those schools to other schools in the system. The effect of this requirement is to impose the burdens of desegregation, including bussing, on only one group, the blacks. This Court has previously held that [c]losing schools for racial reasons would be unconstitutional. Lee v. Macon County, 5 Cir. 1971, 448 F.2d 746, 753. In accord are: Brice v. Landis, N.D.Cal.1969, 314 F.Supp. 974; Quarles v. Oxford Municipal Separate School Districts, N.D.Miss.1970, No. WC-6962-K (unreported); Haney v. County Bd. of Education, 8 Cir. 1970, 429 F.2d 364; Green v. School Bd. of City of Roanoke, W.D.Va.1970, No. 1093 (unreported); Smith v. St. Tammany Parish School Bd., E.D.La.1969, 302 F.Supp. 106; Choctaw County Bd. of Education v. United States, 5 Cir. 1969, 417 F.2d 845; Carr v. Montgomery County Bd. of Education, 5 Cir. 1970, 429 F.2d 382. When the closing of a formerly all-black school is proposed, there is a heavy burden on the school board, and in the instant case on the District Court since its Order made mandatory [the closing of the black schools] to explain the closing of facilities formerly used for the instruction of black students. Haney, supra, 429 F.2d at 372. 66 Here, there was no showing that Anderson and Kealing were closed for nonracial reasons. The Anderson site contains 20.4 acres and has a capacity for 1,200 students. While its size may be inadequate for a senior high school it is clearly within the desirable junior high school size range. The predominately white Austin High School, by comparison, has only 16.4 acres, and a capacity of 1,600-1,800, yet it has not been closed. Kealing, with 9.85 acres of land, has twice the acreage of the predominately white Fulmore Junior High School (4.81 acres) and approximately the same acreage as Martin Junior High School (9.92). The only reason stated for closing Kealing is that it needs repairs; Superintendent Davidson admitted its space was adequate. 67 There is evidence in the record for the conclusion that, as the district court described it, likelihood of 'white flight' was the real reason for the closin of the two schools. But it should go without saying that the vitality of these constitutional principles cannot be allowed to yield simply because of disagreement with them. Brown v. Bd. of Education, supra, 349 U.S. at 300, 75 S.Ct. at 756. See Lee v. Macon County, 5 Cir. 1971, 448 F.2d 746; Cooper v. Aaron, 1958, 358 U.S. 1, 78 S.Ct. 1401, 3 L.Ed.2d 5, 19; Monroe v. Bd. of Commrs., 1968, 391 U.S. 450, 88 S.Ct. 1700, 20 L.Ed.2d 733. On the record before us, the closings are unacceptable. 68 B. Elementary Schools. As previously discussed, the district court approved the Board's plan adopted for the desegregation of the elementary schools by bringing black, white, and Mexican-American students together for integrated learning experiences one week per month. This is a constructive, innovative idea but only as a supplement to system-wide desegregation. Parttime desegregation does not meet constitutional requirements. 39 At a time when federal courts throughout the country are enforcing the constitutional mandate that school systems must be unitary, the AISD may not escape the constitutional requirements by a plan such as this. 69 The court-approved plan leaves all the elementary students in their 1970-71 schools. See Appendix A. Virtually 80 percent of the blacks and 64 percent of the Mexican-Americans will attend schools where their race or ethnic group predominates. They will be taught all of their basic subjects inluding reading and mathematics in a segregated learning environment. Whether their parttime integration occupies 25 percent of their school years, as the district court held, 16 percent as the Government contends, or 33 percent as the AISD contends, the plan cannot be said to fulfill the constitutional command to convert to a unitary system in which racial discrimination would be eliminated root and branch. (Emphasis supplied.) Green v. County School Board, supra, 391 U.S. at 437-438, 88 S.Ct. at 1694. 70 Lest we be misunderstood, we congratulate the AISD for some of its progressive educational techniques including the use of inter-cultural experiences, team-teaching, and instruction in the cultural background and heritages of racial and ethnic groups. Further, the AISD may provide for bi-lingual instruction, accelerated education, and remedial education for retarded students. These techniques, however, may not be used as a substitute for adequate desegregation. See George v. O'Kelly, 5 Cir. 1971, 448 F.2d 148; Banks v. Claiborne Parish, 5 Cir. 1970, 425 F.2d 1040. 71 C. Faculty and Professional Staff. In United States v. Montgomery County Board of Education, 1969, 395 U.S. 225, 89 S.Ct. 1670, 23 L.Ed.2d 263, the Supreme Court held that, as a goal, in each school the ratio of white to black teachers should be substantially the same as the ratio of white to Negro teachers throughout the system. The black-white faculty ratio in that case substantially reflected the black-white student ratio. Swann reaffirmed this principle. Rigid adherence to this principle would be inequitable in this case, however, since there are so few Mexican-American teachers, 3 percent of the total faculty as against a Mexican-American school population of 20 percent. 72 When the figures speak so eloquently, a prima facie case of discrimination is established. See Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Bd. of Education, supra; Brooks v. Beto, 5 Cir. 1966, 366 F.2d 1. The school board therefore should attempt to employ more Mexican-American teachers with the goal of attaining a ratio of Mexican-American teachers within the faculty that reflects more truly the ratio of Mexican-American students to the total population. The school board need not, of course, lower its employment standards. A showing of a good faith effort to find sufficient qualified Mexican-American teachers to achieve an equitable ratio, will rebut any inference of discrimination. The ultimate goal is to apply the faculty rule laid down in United States v. Montgomery County Board of Education. 73 D. Conversion to Unitary System. The Department of Justice advanced the notion on appeal that as to Mexican-Americans, there were only incidents [pockets] of discrimination in certain schools. The Government asks, therefore, that only these incidents be remedied on remand, rather than ordering across-the-board relief. One is not sure what the Department means. It has never asserted this position before. 74 The statistics in this case, as in almost all school cases, prove a pattern of discrimination. The statistics supplemented by maps in evidence graphically show a heavy concentration of students of one race in a school in an area where there is a heavy concentration of residents of that race. See Appendix A and footnote 22. Essentially, however, considering only the Mexican-Americans, this case is no different from any other school desegregation case. What the Department now refers to as proof only of piecemeal or pocket discrimination has always been its tried and true method of proving school segregation. The discriminatory acts of the school authorities infect the entire school system; they are particularly obvious in the so-called pockets. Some schools may be the result of state-imposed segregation even though no specific discriminatory school board action may be shown as to those schools. Had the school authorities not specifically segregated the minority students in certain schools, other schools may have developed as desegregated facilities. Thus, though they may not be pockets of discrimination, these schools are the results of discrimination. They must pass the scrutiny test mandated by Swann. See 402 U.S. at 25-26, 91 S.Ct. 1267, 28 L.Ed.2d 554. 75 For this Court to provide relief only for certain pockets, euphemistically called incidents of discriminations, would raise serious equal protection problems. The concept of incidents of discrimination is an inscrutable new concept totally at odds with the teachings of Brown and its progeny-and with all previous cases in which the Department of Justice has appeared. Relief from discrimination requires conversion to a unitary system. Green, supra, 391 U.S. 430, 88 S.Ct. 1689, 20 L.Ed.2d 716. There are, of course, situations where only one school must be dealt with in a decree, as where school authorities segregate races in separate classes within a building. In such cases, the remedy would be to correct the wrong rather than to order the whole school student assignment system reconstituted. Such is not the case in the AISD. 76 E. Transportation of students. Bussing is not an end in itself but is one of the tools available to a district court in the process of remedying a segregated school system. Equal educational opportunity is constitutionally mandated; segregated education deprives the student of equal educational opportunity; segregated education must be ended. This is the teaching of Brown I and II. 77 Many school systems must use pairing, clustering, and remedial altering of attendance zones to integrate the school system. Desegregation plans cannot be limited to the walk-in school. Swann, supra, 402 U.S. at 30, 91 S.Ct. at 1283. The bussing of students is often inherent in the use of these remedial tools. See Acree v. County Bd., 5 Cir. 1972, 458 F.2d 486; United States v. Greenwood Municipal Separate School District, 5 Cir. 1972, 460 F.2d 1205; Dandridge v. Jefferson Parish School Board, 5 Cir. 1972, 456 F.2d 552. 78 Bussing is not new to the South or to any other region of the country. Blacks have been bussed across a county to black schools; whites across a county to white schools. Private schools do not disdain bussing. In Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, the Supreme Court noted that 18 million children, approximately 39 percent of the public school students, were bussed to their schools in 1969-70 in all parts of the country. 402 U.S. at 29, 91 S.Ct. at 1282. The accepted use of extensive bussing in the past has been an integral part of the public education system for years, 402 U.S. at 29, 91 S.Ct. at 1282, but objections to bussing may have validity when the time or distance of travel is so great as to either risk the health of children or significantly impinge on the educational process, 402 U.S. at 30-31, 91 S.Ct. at 1283. 79 Whenever possible, we defer to the good judgment of the district judge. He knows the local situation better than we do. He may not, however, totally reject the use of bussing as a permissible tool, within the court's power to provide equitable relief. 402 U.S. at 30, 91 S.Ct. at 1283. There is no basis on this record for totally rejecting the use of bussing on the elementary school level (except to the limited extent it is used to transport pupils to the learning research center.) On the secondary levels, there is no basis in the record for the district court's order requiring the bussing of two-thirds of the black students, a few Mexican-Americans, and no whites. 40 80 F. Cost. As the Supreme Court has said, The remedy for such segregation may be administratively awkward, inconvenient, and even bizarre in some situations and may impose burdens on some; but all awkwardness and inconvenience cannot be avoided in the interim period when remedial adjustments are being made to eliminate the dual school systems. Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg, supra, 402 U.S. at 28, 91 S.Ct. at 1282. Equal educational opportunity must be provided despite cost and inconvenience. See also Alexander v. Holmes County, 1969, 396 U.S. 19, 90 S.Ct. 29, 24 L.Ed.2d 19; Carter v. West Feliciana Parish, 1969, 396 U.S. 290, 90 S.Ct. 608, 24 L.Ed.2d 477.