LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) ? A federal appeals court began reviewing a lower court order on Monday that would end state payments to Arkansas public schools that began over two decades ago to aid in desegregation efforts.
Arkansas has one of the nation's largest remaining court-ordered desegregation systems in a state where President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1957 summoned the National Guard to allow nine black students to attend Central High School after Governor Orval Fabus denied them access.
Many residents of Arkansas, including Democratic Governor Mike Beebe, now want the state to stop paying about $70 million a year to three central Arkansas districts to help them racially balance their schools, saying the system is outdated.
In May, U.S. District Judge Brian Miller released the state from most of its financial responsibility in the 1989 agreement, which had provided the money to pay for expenses such as busing. It has also been used to create magnet schools.
Miller, in his ruling, wrote that the desegregation payments had problems, saying they gave school districts an incentive to draw out desegregation efforts to avoid having the extra money cut once desegregation was deemed a success.
"It seems that the State of Arkansas is using a carrot and stick approach with these districts but that the districts are wise mules that have learned how to eat the carrot and sit down on the job," Miller wrote.
"The time has finally come for all carrots to be put away. These mules must either pull their proverbial carts on their own or face a very heavy and punitive stick," he said.
The school districts are appealing. They want the state to continue to provide desegregation funds. Two districts - North Little Rock and Pulaski County - want to be released from court supervision, which oversees their desegregation programs.
The Little Rock School District wants the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis to vacate the May 19 ruling and throw the case back to the district court.
The districts argue that without the funding, teachers' salaries, layoffs and school closures may occur. The Arkansas Attorney General's office has said that would not be the case.
Dr. John Kirk, chair of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock history department, said that in similar cases the courts have "washed their hands of it."
"The courts in general tend to be backing away and are more conservative and more hands off," Kirk said. "The courts are saying they have to figure it out for themselves. What that means and what the consequences will be is hard to say."
Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said the lower court decision would allow the Little Rock school board to "craft a future for a district free of federal court supervision, which is the best scenario for our children."
"The State will uphold its commitment to students. Regardless of whatever budgetary challenges there may be, we recognize it is better to work through those issues in a School Board conference room rather than a courtroom."
Local representatives from civil rights groups, including the NAACP, were not immediately available to comment on the case.
(Edited by Cynthia Johnston)
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