Time sought to avoid segregation lawsuit

Group say NJ residency laws unfair to students

By: Mary Ann Koruth
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... Parties involved in confidential negotiations say progress is slow to resolve a lawsuit alleging that New Jersey's public schools are segregated because of residency laws that send children to schools in their Zip code.
..... After entering mediation late last year [2023] and extending it once, the plaintiffs say they need at least two more months, if not more, to arrive at a solution and avoid entering a long and expensive trial.
..... That solution, still being crafted, has the potential to transform how children are matched with schools in New Jersey, where for decades municipalities have exercised local control over 600-odd school districts of varying size and vastly differing demographics.
..... Plaintiffs consisting of minor children and their guardians, Black and Latino social justice organizations including the NAACP and Latino Action Network, two school districts at the Jersey shore and the United Methodist Church of Greater New Jersey sued the state Department of Education in 2018 on the grounds that Black, Hispanic and low-income students suffer the worst impacts of unofficial, or "de-facto" segregation by income and race in public K-12 schools.
..... In October 2023, Superior Court Judge Robert Lougy issued a ruling in the suit, LAN v. New Jersey, that agreed with many, but not all, of the plaintiffs' charges. Lougy ruled that the state had indeed failed to remedy segregation in schools, but he stopped short of saying the state had violated laws and did not order changes to its residency statute.
..... The parties agreed to enter confidential mediation in November, [2023] supervised by retired state Supreme Court judge Barry Albin. Mediation was set to end in February, [2024] but the parties asked for an extension until April. [2024]
..... Now, they have asked for another extension through July. [2024]
..... Lawrence Lustberg, the attorney for the plaintiffs, suggested in a letter to the courts that the groups are making headway. The parties "regulatory confer with each other and with the mediator between sessions, and they have had insignificant, good-faith discussions in furtherance of a possible resolution," he wrote in April. [2024]
..... Solutions could include expanding inter-district choice, which permits students to attend school in a municipality they do not reside in as well as magnet and public charter schools.
..... "However, given the broad scope of this mediation - which will address both liability and remedy - and the significance and tremendous complexity of the issue to be resolved, the parties will require a number of additional mediation sessions before potentially reaching a resolution," Lustberg wrote.
..... "The parties continue to believe that mediation is likely to resolve this matter more expeditiously than litigation" and "may save the people of New Jersey and the courts of this state from years of time-consuming, expensive, high-profile litigation ... with significant fiscal consequences," Lustberg wrote in his letter.
..... Discussions could extend through the summer, [2024] said civil rights advocate Vivian Cox Fraser, president of the Urban League of Essex County, a Newark-based nonprofit and one of the plaintiffs. She did not comment on the content of the discussions because they are confidential, but was optimistic.
..... "We're not at the point of agreement yet, but I'm hopeful that we can reach one," said Fraser, who are bused to a district different from her own in 1971 as a middle schooler in Washington, D.C. "the stakes are high ... we're one of the most diverse states demographically and yet also one of the most segregated stats: in terms of schools.
..... "We have to get to the point where it's not a zero-sum game - where i get what my child needs and somebody else fails," she said.
..... The challenge the parties face is to find a solution that appeals to New Jersey's many suburban school districts and their residents.
..... "New Jersey is suburban. how do we appeal to suburbanites?" Fraser said. "How do we make htat case? I believe it can't be that you win at the expense of somebody."
..... An attractive solution could address dollars, Fraser suggested
..... "Everybody wants to preserve their own enclaves and there's something nice about that," sehs said. But administration curriculum development at the early elementary levels could also be easily shared between towns without affecting academic standards, she said.
..... Even the small high schools in some wealthy towns do not offer the wide range of elective courses that large, renationalized high schools do, she said.
..... "If you didn't have so many districts, you could save on cost and still provide a great education," she said. Rationalizing and combining school districts are viewed by many as a cost-saving solution that achieves more diverse schools. A potential solution that makes schools more diverse across municipalities and reduces tax burdens could appeal to New Jerseyans, Fraser suggested, referring to the state's high property taxes.
..... "People are asking 'Why am I spending this high portion of my income on taxes?' " I think the issue is going to come to a head and maybe this lawsuit is what brings it there," she said.

Charter schools as a possible alternative

..... The New Jersey Public Charter School Association did not comment on the medications itself, but said it was "encouraged by the mediation efforts to date and will continue to work with all stakeholders to ensure that more families have access to diverse learning environments for their children.
..... "The main culprit for the lack of racially diverse public schools in New Jersey is segregated housing patterns," said the organization's president Harry Lee.
..... Charter schools operate predominantly in the state's urban districts, with several in Newark and Trenton, where the majority of students are low-income, and Black and Hispanic. A key feature is that they permit enrolled students to attend schools outside their ZIP codes. Lougy's ruling favored charter schools, saying they did not exacerbate segregation.
..... "The public charter school law allows families to cross municipal boundaries and we should be leveraging the current statue to significantly increase the number of diverse public schools for children throughout New Jersey," Lee said in a statement.
..... The Office of the Attorney General, representing the state in the negotiations, did not comment on the progress of mediation.

HOME