Statement About Assistance to Local Communities for School Desegregation Plans

THE SUPREME COURT has ordered that where any school district in the Nation is maintaining a dual school system based on race, it shall be changed to a unitary system.¹

¹Alexander v. Holmes County (Mississippi) Board of Education, October 29, 1969 (396 U.S. 19).

Recognizing local differences, the Courts have not defined what is meant by a "unitary system" but have left to local school boards the task of designing appropriate changes in assignments and facilities to bring their districts into compliance with the Courts' general requirements. These changes are embodied in desegregation plans, some of which are prepared, on request, with Federal assistance.

As a matter of general policy this administration will respond affirmatively to requests for assistance in the formulation and presentation to the Courts of desegregation plans designed to comply with the law.

I have directed that these principles should be followed in providing such assistance.

1. Desegregation plans should involve minimum possible disruption--whether by busing or otherwise--of the educational routines of children.

2. To the extent possible, the neighborhood school concept should be the rule.

3. Within the framework of law, school desegregation problems should be dealt with uniformly throughout the land.

I realize that in the school districts affected by the Courts' mandates, putting even the most carefully-considered desegregation plans into effect is going to cause controversy. Required changes will inevitably be accompanied by apprehension and concern at the time of their implementation.

On one point there should be no argument: The hundreds of thousands of children in the affected districts deserve what every other child in America deserves-- a sound education in an atmosphere conducive to learning. This is my paramount interest, and in this regard I am sure I, speak for the Nation.

America's public schools are our principal investment in our own future. In every State the public schools are literally the guarantee of that State's life and growth and health. Any community which permits its public school system to deteriorate condemns itself to economic and social stagnation; nobody knows this fact more surely than the business, labor, education, and religious leaders who serve their communities with dedication and pride.

In many States community leaders are making themselves heard, counseling respect for law and development of public education of the highest attainable quality. I wish to associate myself with such counsel--to lend the weight of this Office and the available resources of the Federal Executive to the constructive work which is being carried on in community after community, and especially in those facing what for them are far-reaching and extremely difficult educational and social changes.

In order to explore what kinds of additional assistance the President and the Federal departments could usefully render to these communities, I have asked the Vice President to chair an informal Cabinet-level working group with Secretary of Labor George Shultz as Vice Chairman. Its members include Attorney General Mitchell, Postmaster General Blount, Secretary Finch, Assistant to the President Donald Rumsfeld, and Counsellors Moynihan and Harlow. I have instructed them to review in detail the efforts of the executive branch which are now or could be dedicated to helping school districts in complying with the Courts' requirements and to preserving the continuity of public education for thousands of school children.

The Courts have spoken; many schools throughout the country need help. The Nation urgently needs the civic statesmanship and levelheadedness of thousands of private citizens and public officials who must work together in their towns and cities to carry out the law and at the same time preserve educational opportunity. This administration will work with them.