Parties push Little Rock desegregation settlement

LITTLE ROCK—A settlement to a decades-old desegregation lawsuit involving Little Rock-area schools took a step closer to becoming reality Tuesday when the parties asked a federal judge for preliminary approval of their proposed agreement.

The sides weren’t ready to pop champagne corks just yet, with the prospect of a trial still looming if the judge doesn’t agree to the settlement or if the accord otherwise falls apart.

The state has spent more than $1 billion to help the Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pulaski County school districts desegregate as part of a lawsuit that has kicked around since 1982 and has its roots in the tempestuous integration of Little Rock’s schools in 1957.

Under the proposed agreement, the special payments would end with the 2017-18 school year.

Until then, annual payments of $37.3 million for Little Rock, $20.8 million for Pulaski County and $7.6 million for North Little Rock would continue. The last year of the payments would be for facilities, but could

not be used for athletics or administration buildings, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said prior to the hearing.

For the settlement to go forward, U.S. District Judge Price Marshall first would have to grant preliminary approval, which would set the stage for a fairness hearing. The next hearing is set for the end of the week.

“When we gather together on Friday ... I will make a (preliminary) ruling,” Marshall said.

John Walker, of Little Rock, a noted civil rights attorney who represents a group of school patrons, said after the hearing that he’s not satisfied with progress in desegregation, particularly in the Little Rock School District, but said he didn’t raise objections during the proceeding.

“I don’t anticipate any barriers to (the lawsuit’s) conclusion,” Walker said afterward.

Walker was the last of the parties to agree to the settlement, coming aboard Monday night after continued talks.

“Part of what we wanted was for explicit consideration for the beneficiaries of the lawsuit in the first place, who are the children, who happen to be black, who live mostly in the southwest (of Little Rock), whose interests have been long neglected by the Little Rock School District,” Walker said.

“They agreed to emphasize that and they are in a position where they must do that now. And if they don’t then we file a new lawsuit against the Little Rock School District,” he said.

If the agreement doesn’t hold, a trial is still set for Dec. 9. Marshall on Tuesday relaxed deadlines for pretrial filings for the rest of the week but said he’d set new deadlines if the settlement collapses, with a fallback trial date in the first quarter of 2014.

Tuesday’s hearing was mainly consumed with parties discussing how much emphasis will have to be placed on giving notice of the settlement to two classes who are parties to the case, groups of school district patrons known as the Joshua and Knight interveners.

Marshall said that could be addressed if he gives preliminary approval to the settlement Friday.

McDaniel called the settlement proposal “historic,” and Gov. Mike Beebe said the impact on the state budget would allow him to roll back the rest of the state sales tax on groceries, except for a 1/8-cent, voterapproved levy that goes toward conservation.

Beebe heralded the prospect of the litigation ending.

“It’s been going on forever and ever and ever and it’s time for it to stop,” Beebe told The Associated Press. “I’ve been saying that for a long time.”

The governor said the money the state would save will stay in taxpayers’ pockets. A plan approved by the Legislature this year linked the tax cut with decreasing desegregation payments.

“It means the rest of the sales tax is gone on food,” Beebe said, assuming the settlement is approved.

One lingering hitch is that the Pulaski County School District is still under court supervision. It would have to be declared desegregated, or unitary, at some point as part of the agreement. The pact would allow a separate school district for Jacksonville to be carved out of the Pulaski County district, which officials said should help it achieve unitary status.