Arkansas’ attorney general said last week that he’ll keep pushing to end the roughly $60 million a year the state gives in desegregation funding to three districts that say they’ve been successfully desegregated.
Attorney General Dustin McDaniel told a legislative panel that he hopes to convince the Little Rock, North Little Rock, and Pulaski County Special districts to accept a proposal to phase out the money over the next seven years.
Arkansas was a defendant in a 1982 lawsuit that accused it of not doing enough to help the districts desegregate. The state agreed to a settlement in 1989 that required it to provide additional funding and has since paid more than $845 million.
A federal appeals court ruled earlier this year that Little Rocks schools had successfully desegregated, while the North Little Rock and Pulaski County districts are seeking to be declared unitary, or substantially desegregated.