United States v. Junction City Sch. Dist. No. 75

361 F. Supp. 3d 809
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJanuary 17, 2019
DocketCase No. 1:66-cv-1095
StatusPublished

This text of 361 F. Supp. 3d 809 (United States v. Junction City Sch. Dist. No. 75) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Junction City Sch. Dist. No. 75, 361 F. Supp. 3d 809 (S.D.N.Y. 2019).

Opinion

Susan O. Hickey, United States District Judge

Before the Court is the Junction City School District's ("Junction City") Motion *812for Declaratory Judgment, or Alternatively, for Clarification of Previous Orders, or Alternatively, for Modification of Previous Orders. (ECF No. 2). The United States has filed a response to the motion. (ECF No. 20). The Arkansas Department of Education ("ADE") and the Arkansas State Board of Education ("SBE") have filed a response in opposition. (ECF No. 26). The Court finds the matter ripe for consideration.

I. BACKGROUND

On February 7, 1966, Plaintiff United States of America ("United States") filed this action against Junction City, seeking to dismantle the district's operation of a dual school system. (See ECF No. 20-1). On June 21, 1966, the United States filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction requesting that Junction City and other defendants be enjoined from continuing to assign students to particular schools because of their race; operating separate school buses for black and white students; segregating faculty and staff based on race; and maintaining any distinctions in the operation and management of Junction City based on race or color. (See ECF No. 20-2, p. 5). On August 15, 1966, the Court granted the United States' Motion for Preliminary Injunction and issued an order enjoining Junction City from "maintaining and operating racially segregated public schools" and directing Junction City to eliminate its dual school system "with all deliberate speed." (ECF No. 20-3, p. 3). On September 8, 1966, Junction City responded by filing a "freedom-of-choice" desegregation plan to which the United States objected and proposed its own plan. (ECF No. 2-4). On November 29, 1966, the Court entered an order finding that neither proposed plan was acceptable and directing Defendants to "institute a good faith freedom of choice plan for desegregation of the 11th and 12th grades beginning in January 1967." (ECF No. 1, p. 3). The Court further ordered Junction City and other defendants to submit a report to the Court regarding its implementation of the freedom-of-choice plan. On August 14, 1967, the Court issued a decree requiring Junction City to implement a freedom-of-choice plan and setting forth the procedural framework for implementing the plan. (See ECF No. 20-4).

On May 24, 1968, the United States moved the Court for an order requiring the consolidation of the Junction City schools. After a hearing on the motion, the Court cancelled its decree dated August 14, 1967, and ordered Junction City to "propose an alternate plan for the conversion of the school system to a unitary system in accordance with the decisions of the Supreme Court made May 27, 1968, for all students in attendance." (ECF No. 2-1, p. 3). The Court allowed Junction City to begin operating schools in September 1968 under the freedom-of-choice plan until the district filed a consolidation plan in January 1969. (ECF No. 2-3). The Court then issued several orders directing Junction City to allow certain grades to attend school under the freedom-of-choice plan and further directing the district to consolidate all students in certain grades. (See id. ; see also ECF No. 2-5 (assigning students grade 9-12 to Junction City High School and permitting students from other grades to attend either Junction City Elementary or Rosenwald School) ).

On October 23, 1970, the United States moved for further relief against Junction City on the grounds that Junction City failed to remedy its within-school segregation and its segregated transportation system. (ECF No. 2-6). On November 20, 1970, the Court entered an Order ("the 1970 Order") enjoining Defendants from "assigning students to, or maintaining any homeroom, classroom, or other school-related activity on the basis of race, color or *813national origin." (ECF No. 2-7). The Court's Order further directed Defendants to redraw their bus routes and reassign students to the buses on a non-racial basis. Id. Junction City has since been operating under the 1970 Order, which requires Junction City to comply with certain desegregations obligations.

In 1989, Arkansas enacted a school choice program. The Arkansas Public School Choice Act of 1989 (the "1989 Act") provided for a school choice program whereby a student could apply to attend a public school in a district that the student did not reside in, subject to certain limitations. The 1989 Act provided further that "[n]o student may transfer to a nonresident district where the percentage of enrollment for the student's race exceeds that percentage in his resident district" and that "[i]n any instance where the foregoing provisions would result in a conflict with a desegregation court order, the terms of the order shall govern." (ECF No. 2-11, §§ 11(a-b) ). Thus, the 1989 Act did not hinder Junction City's ongoing efforts to remove all vestiges of previous segregation because the statute allowed Junction City to reject segregative transfers in and out of the district.

In 2013, the Arkansas Public School Choice Act of 2013 (the "2013 Act") was enacted, expressly repealing the 1989 Act. The 2013 Act again allowed students to apply to attend a non-resident public school district. However, the 2013 Act did not contain the 1989 Act's limiting language barring segregative inter-district transfers.1 The 2013 Act allowed any school district to annually declare itself exempt from participating in school choice if said participation would conflict with the school district's obligations under a federal court's "desegregation plan regarding the effects of past racial segregation in student assignment" or a federal court order "remedying the effects of past racial segregation." (ECF No. 2-12, p. 11). Any school district that made this declaration would be exempt from participating in school choice for that school year.

In 2015, the Arkansas Public School Choice Act of 2015 (the "2015 Act") was enacted, thereby amending the 2013 Act. The 2015 Act, among other things, eliminated the school districts' ability to declare themselves exempt from participating in school choice due to a conflict with existing obligations under a federal court's desegregation plan or order. Instead, the 2015 Act required that a school district wishing to be exempt from participating in school choice must submit proof to the ADE "that the school district has a genuine conflict under an active desegregation order or active court-approved desegregation plan with the [2015 Act.]" (ECF No. 2-13, p. 5). If the school district submitted proof of an order or plan to the ADE, the provisions of the order or plan would govern, thereby exempting the school district from participating in school choice.

In 2017, the Arkansas General Assembly passed Act 1066 of the Regular Session of 2017 (the "2017 Act"), thereby amending the 2015 Act. The 2017 Act, among other things, amended the 2015 Act's language allowing school districts to seek an exemption from participating in school choice. Under the 2017 Act, school districts seeking to be exempt from participation in school choice must now submit proof to the ADE "that the school district has a genuine conflict under an active desegregation order or active court-approved desegregation *814plan that explicitly limits the transfer of students between school districts. " (ECF No. 2-14, p.

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361 F. Supp. 3d 809, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-junction-city-sch-dist-no-75-nysd-2019.