Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 12, 1995 TAG: 9501130043
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LOS ANGELES TIMES
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Since 1986, the state of Missouri has spent $1.3 billion to upgrade the Kansas City schools. Thanks to this extraordinary infusion of state aid, the city's schools spend three times more per student than the state average.
Nonetheless, a federal judge who ordered the extra spending ruled the 17-year-old desegregation program is not yet complete because test scores of city students remain below the ``national norms.''
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the Kansas City case seeking to settle one of the last remaining questions in desegregation law.
In two recent rulings, the high court has said that a court-ordered school desegregation program should end once spending has been equalized, facilities desegregated and the ``vestiges of past discrimination eliminated to the extent possible.''
But are below-average test scores in a big-city school district a ``vestige of past discrimination'' that must be eliminated?
No, said state lawyers, arguing that they should not be held responsible for how students perform in class.
Missouri's chief counsel John R. Munich said the state should be required to ``allocate the resources'' to pay for the required programs, but it cannot guarantee that students will learn.
``Is student achievement irrelevant?'' asked an incredulous Justice David H. Souter. Joined by Justice Stephen Breyer, the two jurists suggested that changes in test scores are a key indicator of whether the program has succeeded.
Lawyers representing the black students and the Clinton administration agreed the desegregation program should continue until test scores rise.
Black students who have ``suffered the terrible deprivation of segregation'' should not be cut off from extra state support, Deputy Solicitor General Paul Bender told the court.
But a skeptical Justice Antonin Scalia asked how the state can be held responsible for raising test scores to above the national norms.
``Half the country is below the national norms,'' he said.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy appeared to agree. ``I see no end to this,'' he said.
by CNB