Students and families receive packaged meals from Tucson Unified School District workers who are distributing meals along the district's bus routes during closures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Tucson Unified School District will no longer have federal oversight after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled it had achieved “unitary status.” This decision brings an end to nearly 50 years of oversight that began with lawsuits in 1974 aimed at addressing racial segregation in TUSD schools.
“It is time to return control of the District back to local authorities,” Judge Danielle J. Forrest wrote, emphasizing that federal oversight was always meant to be temporary.
Read the U.S. 9th Circuit's ruling ending TUSD's desegregation order
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The district quickly celebrated the ruling Wednesday evening, calling it “great news.”
“Today’s 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling noted a unanimous rejection by the judges of all arguments posed by the former plaintiffs to return the district to federal court oversight and supervision,” TUSD communications director Karla Escamilla wrote in a press release. “(The decision) affirmed that the district has acted in good faith to comply with and implement the requirements of the former court ordered Unitary Status Plan and to eliminate the vestiges of past discrimination.”
The ruling comes over two years after a federal judge in Tucson found that the district did not need any more oversight. However, shortly after, the plaintiffs appealed alleging the district did not eliminate vestiges of discrimination to a practical extent. The unanimous court disagreed, calling the objections “vague.”
“It simply is not the law that all racial disparity must be eliminated before a desegregation degree can be extinguished,” the judge wrote.
In its decision, the court examined six categories, known as Green Factors: student, staff, faculty assignments, transportation, extra-curricular activities, and facilities. The court found that TUSD had taken significant steps to eliminate racial imbalances in each area.
For instance:
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Student Assignments: The district reduced racially concentrated schools and increased integration, despite challenges from Arizona’s open enrollment laws and charter school competition.
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Faculty and Staff Assignments: TUSD implemented diversity recruitment initiatives, but progress was constrained by statewide teacher shortages and low salaries.
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Transportation: The court found no racial disparities in services and deemed commute times reasonable, even though transportation burdens fell more heavily on African American and Latino students.
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Education Quality: Programs addressing achievement gaps and discipline disparities for African American and Latino students showed meaningful progress, though disparities in academic outcomes persist.
“The District has demonstrated that it is capable of making meaningful changes to its policies, practices, and procedures related to desegregation,” the new ruling reads.
Background
In the 1950s, TUSD, along with other schools across the country, was a segregated school system, with separate schools for Black and white students. The class-action lawsuits, filed on behalf of African American and Latino students, led to a 1978 desegregation decree. Over 50 years after the initial filing, the district worked under federal supervision to implement strategies to promote integration and equity. In 2013, TUSD adopted a Unitary Status Plan (USP) that placed detailed goals to eliminate the remnants of segregation. The district gradually met the plan’s requirements, including addressing student assignments, staff diversity, transportation, and disciplinary practices.
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