United States v. Board of School Commissioners

677 F.2d 1185
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedMarch 26, 1982
DocketNo. 81-2209
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 677 F.2d 1185 (United States v. Board of School Commissioners) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Board of School Commissioners, 677 F.2d 1185 (7th Cir. 1982).

Opinions

SWYGERT, Senior Circuit Judge.

This court has previously addressed both liability and remedial issues in the Indianapolis school desegregation case. We shall [1186]*1186not repeat the history of the litigation. See 637 F.2d 1101 (7th Cir. 1980). The only issue here is who shall pay the cost of the desegregation plan ordered by the district court for interdistrict violations in Marion County, Indiana.

The following statements constitute the law of this case and underlie our decision.1 Only the State of Indiana was found liable for the interdistrict violations. 456 F.Supp. 183, 188. The basis for its liability included the enactment of Uni-Gov legislation. Ibid. Neither the Board of School Commissioners of the City of Indianapolis, Indiana (hereinafter “IPS”) nor the suburban school districts were found liable for the interdistrict violations. 506 F.Supp. 657, 666-68. The district court established a desegregation plan to remedy the interdistrict violations. It ordered black students from IPS to be transferred to designated suburban districts; it also ordered the state to design, implement, and pay the costs of in-service training and other ancillary relief. 506 F.Supp. at 671-74. We have affirmed these findings and orders. 637 F.2d 1101 (7th Cir. 1980). The Supreme Court has denied all petitions for certiorari. 449 U.S. 838, 101 S.Ct. 115, 66 L.Ed.2d 45 (1980).

On June 19, 1981 four suburban school districts filed with the district court a petition that sought a ruling on who was financially responsible for the cost of the desegregation plan. The school year was to begin soon, the Indiana General Assembly had met and adjourned without appropriating funds for the desegregation plan, and the petitioners were understandably concerned about where the funds for the plan would come from. Allocating the costs of a desegregation plan is, of course, part of the remedial power of the district court. See Milliken v. Bradley, 433 U.S. 267, 289-90, 97 S.Ct. 2749, 2761-62, 53 L.Ed.2d 745 (1977). The district court held that the State of Indiana should pay the entire cost of remedying the interdistrict violations because it alone had been found liable for them. Memorandum of Decision, July 17, 1981, at 3.

The district court also held that the State of Indiana must pay the receiving school corporation the transfer tuition for any IPA student sent to it. The state may then deduct the transfer tuition from state distributions otherwise payable to IPS. The state must pay all transportation costs, including the cost of transportation in extracurricular activities. The state must reimburse IPS for increased costs attributable to the loss of enrollment and reduction in staff resulting from the court’s remedial orders. Finally, the state must initially make these payments from unappropriated funds, and state officials may not discriminatorily reduce state distributions to the school corporations affected by the court’s order.

The state alleges various grounds for reversal. For the reasons stated below, we affirm the district court’s order.

I

In 1974 the Indiana General Assembly enacted Indiana Code § 20-8.1-6.5 — 1 et seq. (hereinafter the “Transfer Statute”). It provides that the State of Indiana will pay one-half of the cost of transportation ordered by a court (while the local school districts involved will bear the balance) if the following three conditions are met:

A. A transferor corporation has violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States by practicing de jure racial segregation of the students within its border,
B. A unitary school system within the meaning of such Amendment cannot be implemented within the boundaries of the transferor corporation, and
C. The Fourteenth Amendment compels the Court to order a transferor corporation to transfer its students for education to one or more transferee corporations to effect a plan of desegregation in the transferor corporation which is acceptable within the meaning of such amendment.

[1187]*1187Ind. Code § 20-8.1-6.5-1. The state contends that the district court erred in not following the terms of this statute. It argues that the transfer statute applies to this case, that the three conditions are met, and so the financial liability of the state should be limited to fifty percent of the costs.

A

The state asserts that the applicability of the transfer statute is the law of the case because the district court has held previously that the three conditions for the applicability of the statute have been satisfied. This contention is erroneous. In an earlier ruling the district court did interpret the transfer statute as a substantive basis for liability. We reversed, holding that the statute is procedural only. 637 F.2d at 1112. Neither court has previously decided whether the transfer statute has any applicability at the remedial stage.

B

We hold that the transfer statute has no applicability here.2 The statute by its own terms applies only to instances of constitutional violations by the transferor corporation (here, IPS). This appeal, however, involves a remedy for interdistrict violations for which the State of Indiana, not IPS, is responsible. 637 F.2d at 1108. The statute does not address the situation where the State of Indiana is the wrongdoer.

In addition, the situation that triggers the transfer statute is now a legal impossibility. In Milliken v. Bradley, 418 U.S. 717, 94 S.Ct. 3112, 41 L.Ed.2d 1069 (1974), the Supreme Court held, in effect, that a unitary school system can always be established within the geographical boundaries of the school district that committed the de jure segregation. 418 U.S. at 745—46, 94 S.Ct. at 3127-28. The Court held that district courts cannot remedy de jure segregation confined to one school system by transferring students outside that system. Ibid. The transfer act was passed prior to Milliken I and makes sense only in light of preMilliken I jurisprudence.

For both of these reasons, therefore, the transfer statute is inapplicable.

C

Even if the transfer statute applied, the district court would not be bound by its terms. The state notes that the Tenth Amendment as well as basic principles of federalism gives it inherent authority to structure its finances. The transfer statute, it argues, is a financing statute that was duly enacted by the Indiana General Assembly, and so must be followed.

We reject this argument. The State of Indiana, and only the State of Indiana, has been found liable for the interdistrict violations. The cost of remedying these violations is the issue before this court. The state is asserting that, despite the fact that it alone has been adjudicated the wrongdoer, it can limit the power of a federal court acting in equity to remedy violations of the federal Constitution. This is not the law. In Milliken v. Bradley,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
677 F.2d 1185, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-board-of-school-commissioners-ca7-1982.