Virginia court upholds school district’s redistricting plan
The Fairfax County Times reports that a Virginia state court has ruled that the Fairfax County School Board acted within its authority when it adopt a controversial school redistricting plan. The judge denied a request made by the Fairfax Coalition of Advocates for Public Schools (Fairfax CAPS) on behalf of 11 parents of children affected by the proposed redistricting plan for an injunction blocking the plan. The lawsuit stated that the school board's decision was invalid because it was “arbitrary and capricious and undertaken in excess of its authority.” It further maintained that the school board did not comply with its policy on school boundary adjustments and ignored information demonstrating that the redistricting does not “maintain or improve operating efficiency or instructional effectiveness of the schools impacted,” and that “the school board exceeded its statutory authority by considering the socioeconomic characteristics of the school population” in making its redistricting decision. Fairfax CAPS spokesman Scott Chronister criticized the judge’s opinion for its brevity and failure to provide “any kind of clarification on the specifics on the rationale of the ruling.” “Our next move is continue our efforts to ensure accountability for the school board,” he said. “We need to sit down as a group and see if we want to appeal this decision. Mr. Chronister added, “I think that it is very clear that if a Circuit Court could make such a decision—that the school board did not act in excess of its authority—we need to do something at the state level to fix the statute governing the board's authority.”
Source: Fairfax County Times, 7/28/08, By Gregg MacDonald
[Editor’s Note: According to the Washington Post, many affected parents have found ways to bypass the new boundary map and send their children to campuses of their choice. School officials express confidence that this is merely a temporary phenomenon. Background on the lawsuit is available starting at the Legal Clips item posted at the second link below. That item discussed the potential implications some of the plaintiffs’ arguments may have had for future school board decisions concerning student diversity and educational effectiveness, although the school district maintained that its decisions were based simply on the pronounced under-enrollment at one high school and over-enrollment at nearby high schools. The diversity implications also are addressed in the commentary published by Education Week at the last link.]
Source: Washington Post, 7/30/08, By Michael Alison Chandler
NSBA School law pages on Fairfax CAPS suit
Education Week, 6/14/08, By Angela Ciolfi & James E. Ryan