Jenkins by Agyei v. State of Mo., 93-3274
| Decision Date | 08 December 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. 93-3274,93-3274 |
| Citation | 13 F.3d 1170 |
| Parties | Kalima JENKINS, By her friend, Kamau AGYEI; Carolyn Dawson, by her next friend Richard Dawson; Tufanza A. Byrd, by her next friend, Teresa Byrd; Derek A. Dydell; Terrance Cason, by his next friend, Antoria Cason; Jonathan Wiggins, by his next friend, Rosemary Jacobs Love; Kirk Allan Ward, by his next friend, Mary Ward; Robert M. Hall, by his next friend, Denise Hall; Dwayne A. Turrentine, by his next friend, Sheila Turrentine; Gregory A. Pugh, by his next friend, David Winters, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs-Appellees, American Federation of Teachers, Local 691, Intervenor-Appellee v. STATE OF MISSOURI; Mel Carnahan, Governor of the State of Missouri; Bob Holden, Treasurer of the State of Missouri; Missouri State Board of Education; Peter Herschend, Member of the Missouri State Board of Education; Raymond McCallister, Jr., Reverend, Member of the Missouri State Board of Education; Susan D. Finke, Vice-President, Member of the Missouri State Board of Education; Thomas R. Davis, Member of the Missouri State Board of Education; Robert E. Bartman, Commissioner of Education of the State of Missouri; Gary D. Cunningham, President, Member of the Missouri State Board of Education; Rebecca M. Cook, Member of the Missouri State Board of Education; Sharon M. Williams, Member of the Missouri State Board of Education; Jacqueline Wellington, Member of the Missouri State Board of Education, Defendants-Appellants, School District, of Kansas City; Walter L. Marks, Superintendent thereof, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Michael J. Fields, Asst. Atty. Gen., of Jefferson City, MO, argued (Jeremiah W. Nixon and Bart A. Matanic, on the brief) for appellant.
Wilhemina M. Wright, Washington, DC, argued (David S. Tatel, Allen R. Snyder, Patricia A. Brannan, Maree F. Sneed and Arthur A. Benson II, on brief), for School Dist., et al.
Scott A. Raisher, Kansas City, MO, argued (Frederic O. Wickham and Brian P. Wood, on brief), for intervenor American Federation of Teachers.
Before McMILLIAN, Circuit Judge, HEANEY, Senior Circuit Judge, and JOHN R. GIBSON, Circuit Judge.
The State of Missouri once again appeals from orders of the district court 1 granting salary increases to KCMSD personnel as part of the remedy in the ongoing Kansas City school desegregation case. Jenkins v. Missouri, No. 77-0420-CV-W-4, 1993 WL 546576 and 1993 WL 566488 (W.D.Mo. June 30 and July 30, 1993). We affirm.
We have in our most recent opinion affirmed salary orders entered by the district court on June 25, 1992, 1992 WL 551568. Jenkins v. Missouri, 11 F.3d 755 (8th Cir.1993). In our opinion we outlined the history of the court's orders dealing specifically with salaries as a part of the desegregation remedy, including the original salary order of September 15, 1987, and a settlement reached by the parties in 1990, and finally, the affirmance of the 1992 order. We need not repeat that history which is set out in our earlier opinion. 11 F.3d at 766-69. Additional hearings were held on salary motions for the school years 1993-94, 1994-95, and 1995-96, and the district court in an order dated June 30, 1993 granted salary increases to be effective in the three school years.
The State first argues that the district court should have denied the salary increase funding, as it is contrary to Milliken v. Bradley, 433 U.S. 267, 97 S.Ct. 2749, 53 L.Ed.2d 745 (1977) (Milliken II ), in that it does not directly address and relate to the constitutional violation. The State argues that low teacher salaries do not flow from any earlier constitutional violations by the State, and therefore violate Milliken II, as well as Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 402 U.S. 1, 91 S.Ct. 1267, 28 L.Ed.2d 554 (1971), requiring the remedial steps be carefully tailored to correct the vestiges of prior segregation and no more. The State particularly targets pay of non-teacher personnel as not flowing from constitutional violations by the State, and beyond the power of the court to reach.
We have rejected the same arguments with respect to the 1992-93 salary funding order. See Jenkins v. Missouri, 11 F.3d 755, 766-69 (8th Cir.1993). We reasoned that quality education programs and magnet schools were a part of the remedy for the vestiges of segregation causing a system wide reduction in student achievement in the KCMSD schools. Id. at 767-68. Further, we pointed to the district court's findings that the failure to remove the vestiges of the dual school system precipitated an atmosphere which prevented KCMSD from raising necessary funds, specifically those to maintain required salary levels. Id., at 768-69. It is significant that in its order for the earlier year the district court underscored the language from Freeman v. Pitts, --- U.S. ----, ----, 112 S.Ct. 1430, 1444, 118 L.Ed.2d 108 (1992), that "[t]he essence of a court's equity power lies in its inherent capacity to adjust remedies in a feasible and practical way to eliminate the conditions or redress the injuries caused by unlawful action." Order of June 25, 1992 at 12. The significant finding of the court with respect to the earlier funding order was that the salary increases were essential to comply with the court's desegregation orders, and that high quality teachers, administrators, and staff must be hired to improve the desegregative attractiveness of KCMSD.
We reject the State's argument that the salary order is contrary to Milliken II and Swann.
The State next argues that the district court's finding that KCMSD competes in a national urban market for teachers is clearly erroneous. We first observe that this is an argument that the State did not make with respect to this same finding in the June 1992 district court order. The essence of the State's argument is that it presented four witnesses on the issue of the national urban market, that there was and is no national urban market from which school districts compete for staff in any significant fashion and even if there was, KCMSD does not compete in it.
We have said on numerous occasions, particularly in school desegregation cases, we give great deference to the factual findings of the district court, and reverse only if clearly erroneous, under the standards set forth in Anderson v. Bessemer City, 470 U.S. 564, 573, 105 S.Ct. 1504, 1511, 84 L.Ed.2d 518 (1985). The litigation before us dates back to 1977, with Judge Clark presiding over the case during the entire period. We traced this history in Jenkins v. Missouri, 807 F.2d 657, 661-62 (8th Cir.1986) (Jenkins I ), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 816, 108 S.Ct. 70, 98 L.Ed.2d 34 (1987), and on numerous occasions since that time we have updated the long chronology. Contrary to the State's arguments, there was substantial evidence that the District actively recruits and competes for teachers on a nationwide basis. In 1991 and 1992 KCMSD representatives traveled to New Mexico, North Carolina, Texas, Florida, Wisconsin, Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, and New York to recruit qualified teachers. In addition, they advertise in numerous journals on a nationwide basis. Both Superintendent Marks and AFT witness Gould testified about the difficulty in recruiting teachers to work in urban school districts.
The evidence introduced was sufficient to support the district court's findings that there was a national urban market. Even the testimony offered by the State tended to confirm this fact. The State's witnesses, though they stated they knew of no national market, conceded that their own school districts did at least some nationwide recruiting.
The record provides abundant support for the district court's finding and only ambiguous evidence detracting from it. This record in no way inspires a "definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed." Anderson v. Bessemer City, 470 U.S. at 573, 105 S.Ct. at 1511. Therefore, we may not disturb the district court's finding.
Finally, the State argues that the court abused its discretion in approving the salary increases even if pay raises for some KCMSD employees are permissible. The State contends that the district court abused its discretion when it did not properly assess the results based on evaluative criteria the court had approved...
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Missouri v. Jenkins
... ... 2d 31, Missouri challenges the District Court's orders requiring the State (1) to fund salary increases for virtually all instructional and ... Jenkins v. Missouri, 593 F.Supp. 1485 (WD Mo.1984). The District Court determined that prior to 1954 "Missouri ... ...
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