U.S. Appellate Panel Reinstates Kansas City Desegregation Case

By Catherine Gewertz

A federal appeals court has reinstated a 23-year-old desegregation case against the Kansas City, Mo., schools, ruling that the judge who dismissed it in November did so with insufficient evidence that the district had improved enough to justify its release from court supervision.

The ruling last week by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit revives one of the nation’s most closely watched and most expensive cases aimed at ensuring that all children, regardless of race, receive equal educational opportunity.

It began in 1977, when a group of parents sued to force improvements in the beleaguered district, and eventually led to a court-ordered, $2 billion campaign to...