Deal Could End St. Louis Desegregation Case

By Caroline Hendrie

With a state-imposed deadline fast approaching, the parties to the St. Louis school desegregation case announced a tentative settlement last week in their 27-year-old court battle.

The parties to the case expressed varying degrees of satisfaction with their proposed agreement, which was loosely based on a state law enacted last spring that provides strong financial incentives to wrap up the case entirely by March 15.

Still, the university leader appointed by a federal judge in 1996 to broker a settlement argued that the deal stands apart at a time when judges are sometimes abruptly closing the books...