Appellate Court Upholds Berkeley Unified School District’s Voluntary Desegregation Plan


For Immediate Release: March 17, 2009


SAN FRANCISCO—A California Appellate Court ruled today that Berkeley Unified School District’s plan to voluntarily desegregate its schools does not violate Proposition 209. The ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC) and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights are among the legal advocacy groups that represented parents in support of the district's efforts to ensure desegregated schools and classrooms. Other groups representing the parents include the ACLU of Southern California, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. The District is represented by attorneys at Keker & Van Nest.

The Court held that Proposition 209 does not prohibit the use or consideration of race in voluntary desegregation plans, so long as those plans do not grant preferences to or discriminate against individuals or groups based on race. Specifically, the Court clarified that school districts can take into account the racial demographics of a neighborhood in which a student lives in assigning that student to a particular school. 

“Berkeley Unified School District can be a model for other districts that want to employ voluntary desegregation plans without running afoul of Prop 209,” said Jory Steele, ACLU-NC Managing Attorney.

BUSD’s school assignment policy is designed to promote the values of socioeconomic and racial diversity, and looks at several factors, including the demographics of the neighborhood where a student lives. The policy considers the average household income in the neighborhood, the average education level of adults residing in the neighborhood, and the racial composition of the neighborhood as a whole. 
“In upholding Berkeley’s plan, the Court stayed true to the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education and the California cases that followed it,” said Greta Hansen, an ACLU-NC attorney.

“School districts do not have to turn a blind eye to racial segregation. Today's ruling is a significant victory for California students and families who value diversity,” said Kendra Fox-Davis, an attorney at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.

The school district’s desegregation policy came under fire in 2006, when the Pacific Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit against the school district alleging that the desegregation plan violated Proposition 209. The suit alleged that the policy illegally used race to discriminate against and grant preferences to students when making student assignments.

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LEGAL DOCUMENTS
Appellate Court Ruling
ACLU-NC Appellate Brief