Opinion ID: 2078305
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Children of the Rochester City School District

Text: Plaintiffs are 15 students in the Rochester City School District (RCSD) who commenced this class action on behalf of 37,000 students in the RCSD. About 90% of these children are poor and about 80% are African-American or Hispanic. The original complaint named the State of New York, the State Education Department (SED), its Commissioner, the Regents and their Chancellor as defendants. An amended complaint added the Rochester school district and surrounding districts. Relying on the testimony of four experts and statistics compiled by the State, plaintiffs allege that the concentration of poor and minority students in one school district denies them the opportunity of a sound basic education. Plaintiffs allege that this concentration of poor and minority students is the result of state policies, state action and state inaction. Plaintiffs assert causes of action under the Education Article (New York Const, art XI, § 1), the State Equal Protection Clause (New York Const, art I, § 11), title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 USC § 2000d), and its implementing regulations (34 CFR 100.3 [b] [2] through 42 USC § 1983). Plaintiffs requested injunctive relief requiring the State to develop a plan to allow them to obtain a sound education. The motion court dismissed the Education Article claim because plaintiffs did not allege the absence of minimally acceptable educational facilities and services. The court did not dismiss plaintiffs' claims under title VI, and its implementing regulations, giving them the opportunity to show that the enactment of Urban Development Corporation Act § 15 (5) (McKinney's Uncons Laws of NY § 6265 [5] [L 1968, ch 174, § 1, as amended by L 1973, ch 446, § 3]), prohibiting the New York State Urban Development Corporation from building low income housing without local approval, was racially motivated. As to the equal protection claim, the court found that plaintiffs are to be given the opportunity to develop, if possible, the historical background, the patterns of discriminatory actions and/or inactions and other factors to establish intentional discrimination as it relates to section 6265 (5) (187 Misc 2d 227, 237 [2000]). The court dismissed the entire complaint against the suburban districts. On appeal to the Appellate Division, plaintiffs apparently abandoned their intentional discrimination claims. Thus the Appellate Division considered only the claims under the Education Article and implementing regulations to title VI through 42 USC § 1983. The Court dismissed the complaint in its entirety. In addition to noting that plaintiffs failed to allege a lack of minimal facilities, the Court found that plaintiffs cannot attack resident-based education since that was the system that was constitutionalized by the Education Article. The lone dissent would have reinstated the Education Article claim, noting that [a]dequate educational facilities and services do not themselves constitute a sound basic education; rather, they are necessary conditions for the provision of a sound basic education (290 AD2d 95, 105 [2001]).