Judge Decides State Funds for Desegregation To End in K.C.

Concluding that a 12-year, $1.8 billion effort to desegregate the Kansas City, Mo., schools has fallen far short of the mark, a federal judge last week urged state education officials to step in and rescue the "floundering" school system.

In a complex ruling condemning city officials' stewardship of their schools, U.S. District Judge Russell G. Clark assured that court supervision of the district will continue by rejecting arguments by the state that the system had effectively remedied past discrimination against blacks.

But he agreed to let the state off the hook financially for fixing the remaining problems, approving a deal to cut off the state's roughly $100 million annual subsidy of the...