Opinion ID: 201292
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Calibration

Text: Despite the minimally invasive nature of the Plan, the plaintiffs contend that it imposes undue harm because of its calibration. Emphasizing the defense experts' testimony that the educational benefits of diversity are predicated on the presence of a critical mass of white and nonwhite students, a figure that social science literature approximates at 20%, the plaintiffs assert that the Plan's numerical guidelines are substantially more restrictive than necessary. In their view, a plan narrowly tailored to the defendants' compelling interest in the benefits of educational diversity would prohibit only those transfers that would upset critical mass. They point out that because the Plan is calibrated around district demographics rather than around critical -37- mass, it prohibits some transfers that do not bring a school population below 20% white. For example, because nonwhites made up 58% of Lynn's student population at the time of trial, an elementary school with a 40% nonwhite enrollment qualified as racially isolated, and therefore subject to transfer limits, even though it contained a critical mass of white and nonwhite students.14 In response, the defendants rely on expert testimony that while critical mass is the point at which educational benefits begin to accrue, those benefits increase as a school nears an even balance between white and nonwhite students. Relying on this evidence, the district court found that gains occur along a continuum: as the racial composition of school populations creeps closer to balanced, racial stereotyping and tension is [sic] reduced and racial harmony and understanding increase. Comfort IV, 283 F. Supp. 2d at 357. It thus concluded that the Plan was narrowly tailored, despite its orientation around district demographics rather than critical mass. See id. at 384 (The Plan effectively generates integration in Lynn's schools in such quantity as to catalyze intergroup contact while still respecting 14 Under the Plan, an elementary school is racially isolated if its nonwhite enrollment falls more than 15% below the percentage of Lynn's total student population that is nonwhite. If Lynn's student population was 58% nonwhite, as it was during the 2001-02 academic year, a school whose student body was less than 43% nonwhite (i.e., more than 15% below 58%) was racially isolated. -38- the neighborhood school principle and Lynn's ever-changing demographics.). We agree with the district court's reasoning. The Plan does not seek racial balancing for its own sake, nor does it use rigid quotas to ensure a pre-determined level of diversity at each of Lynn's schools. See Grutter, 539 U.S. at 335-36 (The . . . goal of attaining a critical mass of [nonwhite] students does not transform [a] program into a quota.). Rather, the transfer policy conditioned on district demographics (+/- 10-15%) reflects the defendants' efforts to obtain the benefits of diversity in a stable learning environment.15 The Plan thus provides a sufficiently close fit to the defendants' compelling interest to ensure that 'the motive for the classification was [not] illegitimate racial prejudice or stereotype.' Id. at 333 (quoting Croson, 488 U.S. at 493 (plurality op.)). The plaintiffs launch a second attack at the Plan's calibration on the grounds that it is inconsistent with the defendants' statements that the benefits they seek maximize as a school moves closer to 50% white/nonwhite. They point out that as of December 2004, Lynn's student population was more than 61.9% 15 This conclusion is bolstered by the testimony of Dr. Orfield, a nationally recognized expert on school desegregation, who concluded that the Plan used race no more than was necessary to allow Lynn to meet its educational goal of preparing students to live in a multiracial society. Comfort IV, 283 F. Supp. 2d at 355. -39- minority. A middle school that is 50% minority (the proportion that the defendants have described as ideal) would now fall outside of the +/- 10% range for racial balance and would instead be considered racially isolated, resulting in transfer limitations. This argument misses the mark. The Lynn Plan's goal is to improve the racial balance not of any particular school, but across the school system as a whole. The optimal balance for each school might well be 50%, but Lynn's 61.9% minority population means that for every school closer to that ideal, another will be further away from it. Evaluating schools by reference to the racial composition of the city's population is a sensible way for Lynn to strive for the best racial balance attainable across its entire school system, while acknowledging that practical constraints make it impossible for Lynn to have an equal population of minority and non-minority students in every individual school.