Board of Ed. of City School Dist. of City of New York v. Harris

Decision Date19 May 1980
Docket NumberD,No. 1079,1079
PartiesBOARD OF EDUCATION OF the CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT OF the CITY OF NEW YORK and Frank Macchiarola, Chancellor of the City School District of the City of New York, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Patricia R. HARRIS, Secretary, United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Herman B. Goldberg, Associate Commissioner, Equal Education Opportunity Programs, United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and David S. Tatel, Office for Civil Rights, United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Defendants-Appellants. ocket 79-6006.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

Richard P. Caro, Asst. U. S. Atty., Eastern District of New York, Brooklyn, N. Y. (Edward R. Korman, U. S. Atty., Harvey M. Stone, Asst. U. S. Atty., Eastern District of New York, Brooklyn, N. Y., Lois Hochhauser, Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare, Washington, D.C., of counsel), for defendants-appellants.

Joseph F. Bruno, Asst. Corp. Counsel, New York City (Allen G. Schwartz, Corp. Counsel for the City of New York, Gregg M. Mashberg, Ellen B. Fishman, New York City, of counsel), for plaintiffs-appellees.

Before OAKES and MESKILL, Circuit Judges, and STEWART, District Judge. *

MESKILL, Circuit Judge:

Three officials of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (collectively "HEW," the "agency," or "appellant") including the Secretary 1 appeal from an order of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York remanding for further administrative review the application of the Board of Education of the City School District of the City of New York (the "Central Board") for a waiver of ineligibility under the Emergency School Aid Act, 20 U.S.C. §§ 1601, et seq., 2 and enjoining the appellant from expending funds originally designated for appellees' benefit pending such reconsideration. Previously, the Central Board had been denied funding under the program on the ground that the Central Board's assignment of black teachers to predominantly black high schools disqualified it from receiving such benefits, see 20 U.S.C. § 1605(d)(1)(B). An application for a waiver of ineligibility was summarily denied on the ground that the agency lacked discretion to grant such relief in situations where although the segregative assignment policy had been repudiated, its "effects" still lingered. In reviewing the agency's action, the district judge found that HEW had been entirely too modest in its view of its prerogatives under the waiver provisions of the Act and ordered the matter remanded for administrative reconsideration of the merits of the Central Board's application. Board of Education of the City School District of the City of New York v. Califano, 464 F.Supp. 1114 (E.D.N.Y.1979) ("Califano II "). We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

The instant appeal poses a very circumscribed issue. In substance, we are called upon to decide whether HEW's summary rejection of the Central Board's waiver application on the ground that the "effects" of the now-repudiated discriminatory practice had not yet been entirely abated was proper under the program's statutes and regulations. Before formulating a response, it is necessary to place this appeal in its proper setting which, owing to the volume of litigation which has preceded it, is panoramic.

a. The ESAA Waiver Provision and Its Implementing Regulation.

Recognizing that the cost of desegregating public school systems or of maintaining adequate educational standards in those schools which had achieved integration was beyond the means of many local boards, Congress in 1972, after considerable debate, passed Title VII of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Emergency School Aid Act ("ESAA"), Pub.L. 92-318, Title VII, §§ 701-820, 86 Stat. 354 (1972), 20 U.S.C. §§ 1601, et seq. The announced purposes of the legislation are "(1) to meet the special needs incident to the elimination of minority group segregation . . . (2) to encourage the voluntary elimination . . . of minority group isolation . . . and (3) to aid school children in overcoming the educational disadvantages of minority group isolation." 20 U.S.C. § 1601(b). This Court has previously characterized ESAA as "a program purposefully designed 'to aid in desegregating schools and support quality integrated schools.' " Board of Education of the City School District of the City of New York v. Califano, 584 F.2d 576, 578 (2d Cir. 1978), cert. granted, 440 U.S. 905, 99 Funding under ESAA is available on a competitive basis. Applicants must submit timely proposals which are reviewed and ranked by the Assistant Secretary in accordance with the criteria set forth in agency regulations, 45 C.F.R. § 185.14, the most important of which is "the effective net reduction in minority group isolation." Id. § 185.14(a)(2)(i). See also Califano I, supra, 584 F.2d at 579 n.4. A local board whose proposal is deemed meritorious must be in the active process of desegregation, whether by mandatory court order, HEW-approved plan or voluntarily adopted procedure, 20 U.S.C. § 1605(a), and in addition, must demonstrate that subsequent to the date of ESAA's passage, June 23, 1972, it has not engaged in any of the acts, practices, policies or procedures proscribed under 20 U.S.C. § 1605(d)(1). Specifically included as a category of disqualifying conduct is discrimination in the "hiring, promotion, or assignment of employees . . ." Id. § 1605(d)(1)(B). See generally Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, 402 U.S. 1, 91 S.Ct. 1267, 28 L.Ed.2d 554 (1971). This statutory prohibition is amplified in the regulation promulgated thereunder, 45 C.F.R. § 185.43(b)(2), which provides in pertinent part:

S.Ct. 1211, 59 L.Ed.2d 453 (1979) ("Califano I "). 3

No educational agency shall be eligible for assistance under the Act if, after June 23, 1972, it has had or maintained in effect any other practice, policy, or procedure which results in discrimination . . . including the assignment of full-time classroom teachers to the schools of such agency in such a manner as to identify any of such schools as intended for students of a particular race, color, or national origin.

Even though an applicant has been disqualified from the program by virtue of the commission of proscribed activity postdating June 23, 1972, it may nonetheless receive ESAA funds if it can obtain a waiver of ineligibility under 20 U.S.C. § 1605(d)(1). That provision requires the applicant to specify the reason for its exclusion from the program, and set forth such assurances as the Secretary may require to demonstrate that the disqualifying "practice, policy, procedure or other activity . . . has ceased to exist or occur," and that such activities will not reoccur after submission of the application. Although the legislative history is scant, Section 1605(d)(1) appears to have been adopted as a safeguard against the channeling of ESAA funds to any school district whose desegregation plan was a sham or was in danger of being abandoned or flouted. See Califano II, supra, 464 F.Supp. at 1121 and legislative history cited therein. In aid of this purpose the statute further provides that the Secretary may not delegate the duty of determining the adequacy of waiver applications, 20 U.S.C. § 1605(d)(2), that such applications must conform to the regulations promulgated thereunder, 20 U.S.C. § 1605(d)(5), that relevant committees in both houses of Congress shall be notified of the Secretary's favorable review of such applications, and that final approvals thereof will not formally be granted until 15 days after Congress receives this notification, 20 U.S.C. § 1605(d)(6).

With regard to the waiver of ineligibility stemming from discrimination in teacher assignments, the regulations provide, 45 C.F.R. § 185.44(d)(3):

applications for waiver shall contain evidence that such agency has assigned its full-time classroom teachers to its schools so that no school is identified as intended for students of a particular race, color, or national origin.

b. The Central Board's Attempts to Obtain ESAA Funding.

In November, 1976, HEW's Office of Civil Rights notified the Central Board that its employment practices were in violation of laws barring discrimination in federally funded programs, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d and 20 U.S.C. § 1681, in that the agency's statistical data indicated that a pattern existed whereby teachers of minority group backgrounds were consistently assigned to schools whose student populations were predominantly of similar racial or ethnic origin. 4 When the Central Board applied for a 1977-78 ESAA grant, HEW, although finding one proposal worthy of funding, denied the appropriation since its figures demonstrated that some schools were identifiable on the basis of segregative teacher assignments. The Central Board attributed the pattern to (1) provisions of the collective bargaining agreement between the Central Board and the teachers' union restricting the inter-school transfer of some teachers; (2) the preference of senior teachers for assignment to nonminority schools, together with their unwillingness to teach elsewhere; and (3) the unequal distribution of teaching licenses in specific areas. In the ensuing litigation, this Court held the ESAA funds could be properly withheld upon a simple showing that the assignment method had a disparate impact upon different groups, despite the absence of proof that the discriminatory deployment was willful or intentional which would be required to support a finding that the Central Board's teacher assignment practices violated the Constitution. Califano I, supra.

On September 7, 1977, the Central Board and HEW entered into a detailed plan, entitled the "Memorandum of Understanding," see Caulfield v. Board of Education of the City of New York, 449 F.Supp. 1203, 1227 (E.D.N.Y.) ("Caulfield I "), rev'd, ...

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