Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 27, 1990 TAG: 9003270116
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The justices will review a ruling that, if upheld, could reinstate forced busing for the racial desegregation of elementary schools in Oklahoma City.
At issue is the effect of a federal judge's ruling in 1977 that the city's public schools had become fully integrated and no longer had to be under court supervision.
The city in 1985 returned to a neighborhood schools plan for children in kindergarten through fourth grade, ending the racial balance achieved by crosstown busing of elementary school pupils.
By 1986, 33 of the school district's 64 elementary schools were 90 percent black or white, and some parents called the neighborhood schools plan a tool of "resegregation."
Hundreds of school districts, including those in most major cities, operate court-ordered busing plans for racial desegregation. Only a few have persuaded courts to declare their once-segregated systems fully integrated.
Nevertheless, the potential impact of the high court's decision, expected sometime in 1991, is enormous.
The issue gained national attention when the Reagan administration helped bring about a halt to court-ordered busing of elementary school pupils in Norfolk, Va.
The Norfolk school district was allowed to return to a neighborhood schools plan in 1986.
William Bradford Reynolds, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division when it entered the Norfolk case in 1984, said the same legal principles could apply to "many, many other school districts around the country."
In the Oklahoma City case, a federal appeals court last Oct. 6 disapproved the neighborhood schools plan.
Oklahoma City public schools once were racially segregated by law. Black parents sued in 1961 to end the lasting effects of such segregation, and in 1972 forced busing was begun as part of a court-ordered desegregation plan.
U.S. District Judge Luther Bohanon ruled in 1977 that the school district had become fully integrated, and ended court supervision.
School officials continued the crosstown busing, however, until 1985 when children in kindergarten through fourth grade were allowed to attend the school nearest their home.
Some black parents challenged the neighborhood schools plan, although other black parents had criticized the busing program.
by CNB