Settlement Ends St. Louis Desegregation Case

By Caroline Hendrie

St. Louis has become the latest big-city school district to close the books on a decades-long struggle over desegregation, following a federal judge's approval of a settlement in a lawsuit brought by black families 27 years ago.

"The business of running the schools and the educational process is now returned to the professional administrators, teachers, and staff," U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr. declared in his March 12 order dismissing the case. "They must stand on their own feet."

The settlement will provide continued funding for an extensive city-to-suburb transfer program that is often held up as a national model. Although individual communities may opt out of the program, and the state may eventually discontinue it, they may do so only...