Opinion ID: 764702
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The 1994 Consent Decree Based on Vision 21

Text: 18 In 1992, Judge Battisti had encouraged settlement discussions among the parties. On October 19, 1993, the court directed the parties, under the leadership of Daniel McMullen, Director of the Office of School Monitoring and Community Relations, to begin discussing the future of Vision 21, its funding, and a settlement of all outstanding issues in the case. The parties were to present the court with a settlement agreement by February 1, 1994. All parties obeyed this order and on March 15, 1994, signed a comprehensive settlement agreement that was approved as a Consent Decree on May 25, 1994. See Reed v. Rhodes, 869 F.Supp. 1265 (N.D.Ohio 1994). 19 The Consent Decree was ambitious in scope. It provided: 20 The purpose of this Agreement is to bring Reed v. Rhodes to a just resolution, consistent with the remedial orders, by eliminating, to the extent practicable, those conditions that the Plaintiff and the District believe are vestiges of past unlawful segregation in the District; to reconcile all outstanding differences between the Parties; to support the reformation of educational processes in the Cleveland School District; to assure that education will continue in desegregated settings; to provide sufficient funding consistent with local voters' support for the educational initiatives known as Vision 21; to provide for monitoring of implementation, the identification of problems, and the resolution of potential disputes about compliance with either remedial orders or the provisions of this Agreement; and to authorize the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Court to assure compliance with the undertakings hereinafter defined. 21 Reed v. Rhodes, 869 F.Supp. 1265, 1268 (N.D.Ohio 1994) (Settlement Agreement, § 3). The Consent Decree, inter alia: (1) officially establishes the 15% parameter by which the racial composition of each school is judged, see Settlement Agreement § 5.1; (2) specifies permissible exceptions to that guideline for the school years 1994-95 and 1995-96; see id. §§ 6.1, 6.2; (3) provides that in the 1996-97 school year and thereafter until July 1, 2000, all schools shall comply with the requirements of Section 5.1, see id. § 6.2; (4) establishes state financial support for the desegregation-related and remedial-order related components of Vision 21 until the year 2000, see id. § 7; (5) mandates that the school district adopt a strategic plan for permanent facilities improvement, see id. § 8.3; (6) defines the procedures for modifying remedial orders, see id. § 10; (7) forbids the Defendants, in their operation of the school district, from segregating or discriminating against students based on race, see id. § 11.1; (8) establishes that individual schools shall be subject to appropriate intervention, as defined in § 11.3, if the scores of their students are in the bottom quartile of recognized proficiency tests or if they exhibit substantial disparities by race in student expulsions or suspensions, see id. § 11.2; and (9) provides that at least annually, all Parties shall meet to assess the status of Consent Decree implementation and compliance with relevant remedial orders, see id. § 13. Finally, Section 15 provides that (1) on or after July 1, 1997, the Parties shall request that the district court schedule a public hearing to assess the compliance with the relevant remedial orders and terms of the Agreement, and (2) the Court may at that time release the Defendants from all further obligations, except for those defined by the Consent Decree for the period from July 1, 1997 to July 1, 2000 if the court finds that (a) the Defendants have implemented all provisions of the Consent Decree and complied with all extant remedial orders to the extent practicable; and (b) all vestiges of past discrimination and segregation have been eliminated to the extent practicable; and (c) the Defendants have otherwise demonstrated good faith commitment to their constitutional obligations. See Reed v. Rhodes, 869 F.Supp. 1265, 1268-73 (N.D.Ohio 1994). 22 Judge Battisti passed away on October 19, 1994, six months after the entry of the Consent Decree. Supervision of his docket was assumed by Senior Circuit Judge Robert B. Krupansky on November 1, 1994. That autumn, Vision 21 was implemented in the three corners of the School District where schools were exempt from the District's mandatory 15% parameter. Outside those zones, 25 non-exempt schools were outside the 15% limit. The school district thus recruited students who would be willing to transfer. As a result, five additional schools fell within the 15% range. Negotiations during November and December 1994 produced an agreement that nine of the twenty remaining non-compliant schools should be brought into compliance through the mandatory reassignment of approximately 400 students by the end of January 1995. On January 5, 1995, the school district moved for (1) a temporary stay of the reassignment of those 400 students, (2) a Declaration of Partial Unitary Status as to student assignments, and (3) modification of the Consent Decree, which motion was opposed by both Plaintiffs and the State on the grounds that there had been no significant change in circumstances since the Consent Decree was signed eight months earlier which would warrant a modification of the Decree. 23 On January 9, 1995, the district court dismissed Local Defendants' Motion for a Temporary Stay on the reassignment of the 400 students, but also refused to order any interim changes in assignments. On February 24, 1995, the court announced the reappointment of Daniel J. McMullen, the former Director of the Office of School Monitoring and Community Relations, as Special Master for the purpose of exploring with the parties alternative proposals to the use of mathematical ratios as a predicate for student assignments. At a hearing on that same day, the court heard numerous oral testimonies on the financial and managerial condition of the school district which indicated that the District was in dire financial straits. On March 3, 1995, the court announced that it was displacing the Cleveland Board of Education and ordered the State Superintendent to assume direction and control over all aspects of the school district's operations. 24