Little impact seen in California from school integration case

Legal analysis from the California School Boards Association

The U.S. Supreme Court’s school desegregation decision this week is not likely to result in significant changes in how state courts rule on such cases in California, where Proposition 209 barred virtually any racial considerations in public policy more than a decade ago.

Passed in 1996, Proposition 209 amended the state constitution to prohibit public institutions from implementing programs involving preferential treatment based on race, gender, ethnicity or national origin. This week’s Supreme Court ruling appears to establish a similar national precedent, but the narrow, 5-4 vote leaves some unanswered questions about school integration policies.

The court majority rejected school magnet programs in Seattle and Louisville, Ky., basing its decision on the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. However, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, a California native who cast the deciding vote, wrote a separate opinion indicating that, in his view, race still could be taken into account in some instances.

Kennedy wrote that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.’s opinion—joined by three other justices—was “too dismissive of the legitimate interest government has in ensuring all people have equal opportunity regardless of their race. The plurality’s postulate that ‘The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race,’ is not sufficient to decide these cases.”

Justice Kennedy’s view could have implications for a case currently pending in the Berkeley Unified School District, as well as on integration plans in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Berkeley’s use of race, parental preference, family income, place of residence and other criteria in determining which schools students attend is already under challenge in state court under Proposition 209.

However, “Based on the early reading of the Supreme Court decision, it appears K-12 education has a strong interest in creating diversity balancing,” news accounts quote Superintendent Michele Lawrence saying. "Perhaps Berkeley's model will stand the test."

The Los Angeles Unified School District operates a magnet plan initially developed in response to a 1960s desegregation suit. An attorney representing the district told the Los Angeles Times that “Very likely no decision is going to affect next year’s magnet assignment, but the school district will be looking at its admissions policy for 2008.”

California’s appellate court system has already ruled against at least one school integration plan due to Proposition 209. That case, Crawford v. Huntington Beach Union High School District, struck down a student assignment plan that was, in part, race based, and the state Supreme Court declined to review the decision.