Hoots v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Citation359 F. Supp. 807
Decision Date15 May 1973
Docket NumberCiv. A. No. 71-538.
PartiesDorothy HOOTS, Individually and as mother of her children Janelle Hoots and Jamie Hoots, et al., Plaintiffs, v. COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA et al., Defendants.
CourtUnited States District Courts. 3th Circuit. United States District Court (Eastern District of Pennsylvania)

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R. Stanton Wettick, Jr., Neighborhood Legal Services, Pittsburgh, Pa., for plaintiffs.

Burton Morris, Deputy Atty. Gen., Harrisburg, Pa., Alfred C. Maiello, Thomas M. Rutter, Jr., Pittsburgh, Pa., for defendants.

OPINION

WEBER, District Judge.

INTRODUCTION

This is a suit under the federal Civil Rights Act in which plaintiffs, as representatives of a class, allege that residents of the Borough of Braddock, North Braddock and Rankin, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, have been deprived of rights, privileges and immunities guaranteed them by the laws and Constitution of the United States by being forced to attend and send their children to a racially segregated school district created by the actions of the various defendants in preparing, approving and adopting plans of reorganization and consolidation of school districts in Allegheny County, particularly that creating the General Braddock Area School District, known as Administrative Unit No. 16, within whose boundaries these plaintiffs reside, and the approval of reorganization of surrounding school districts made at about the same time.

A great many of the factual issues in this case were resolved by agreement and stipulation. The statistical data submitted into evidence of the trial was received largely without objection. The defendants submitted two documents as exhibits but offered no testimony. As a result we find the facts to be almost entirely in accord with those findings proposed by plaintiffs' counsel after the close of the evidence. The findings are sufficiently detailed so as to allow us to proceed without a further narrative account of the background of this litigation.

FINDINGS OF FACT
A. Parties

1. Plaintiffs include Addrallace Knight and Barbara Smith.

2. Plaintiff Addrallace Knight is a black woman who has resided in the Borough of Braddock, Pennsylvania, for 20 years and is the mother of three children presently enrolled in the public schools of the General Braddock Area School District in grades 2, 4 and 12, of three children formerly enrolled and still eligible to be enrolled in the public schools of the General Braddock School District, and of two children in college who graduated from the School Districts of Braddock and the General Braddock Area, respectively.1 T. 2, T. 30.

3. Plaintiff Barbara Smith is a black woman who has resided in the Borough of Braddock for 28 years and is the mother of children enrolled in the public schools of the General Braddock Area School District in grades 3, 4, 5, 9, 10 and 11. T. 63, 64.

4. Plaintiffs Addrallace Knight and Barbara Smith instituted this suit to alter the boundaries of the General Braddock Area School District. T. 30, 63.

5. Named Plaintiffs bring the suit as a class action on behalf of all parents and children residing in the boroughs of Braddock, North Braddock and Rankin. Named Plaintiffs' claims are typical of the claims of the class and named Plaintiffs will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class. T. 40, 46, 100, 101.

6. Defendant Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has the duty under Article III, Section 14 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, P.S., to maintain and support a thorough and efficient public school system. (Paragraph 35 of Plaintiffs' Complaint, Admitted.)

7. Defendant Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has the ultimate power, authority and responsibility to create school districts and to establish and alter boundaries of the areas served by said school districts. (Paragraph 36 of Plaintiffs' Complaint, Admitted.)

8. Defendant Pennsylvania State Board of Education "State Board" is a state administrative board charged with the general supervision and control of the educational interests of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and Defendant W. Deming Lewis is the Chairman of that Board. (Paragraphs 33 and 34 of Plaintiffs' Complaint, Admitted.)

9. Defendant Allegheny Intermediate Unit Board of School Directors is an administrative body which became operative as of July 1, 1971 and is charged with providing the essential services formally provided by the Allegheny County Board of School Directors "County Board" and with the administration of the program of services of Intermediate Unit 3 comprising all school districts in the County of Allegheny outside of the City of Pittsburgh, and Defendant Edward X. Hallenberg is the President of such Board. (Paragraphs 38(b) and 38(c) of Plaintiffs' Complaint, Admitted.)

B. School Reorganization Legislation and Standards.

10. During the 1960's the Pennsylvania Legislature on three occasions enacted legislation to reorganize the administrative units (i. e. school districts) in Pennsylvania's public school systems.

(a) the first Actthe Act of September 12, 1961, P.L. 1283, No. 561, 24 P.S. § 2-281 et seq. (Act 561)—directed each county board of school directors to prepare on or before January 1, 1963 a plan of organization of administrative units for the County for review by the State Council of Education. 24 P.S. §§ 2-282, 2-283.2 S. 1.

(b) Act 561 was superseded by the Act of August 8, 1963, P.L. 564, No. 299, 24 P.S. § 2-290 et seq. (Act 299). Act 299 directed each county board of school directors to prepare on or before July 1, 1964 a plan of organization of administrative units for the county and directed the State Council of Basic Education to review organization plans prepared by the county boards and to approve such plans as it deemed wise in the best interest of the educational system of the Commonwealth, provided that these plans met certain requirements specified in Act 299. 24 P.S. §§ 2-292, 2-293. S. 2. In preparing reorganization plans pursuant to Act 299, the county boards were not bound by any proposals contained in reorganization plans prepared pursuant to Act 561, 24 P.S. § 2-292. In dealing with school districts which had previously entered into a written agreement for the establishment of a joint school or department, however, the county boards were prohibited from proposing any administrative units which in whole or in part comprised less than all of the school districts joined by such agreement. 24 P.S. § 2-292.

(c) Act 299 was superseded by the Act of July 8, 1968, P.L. 299, No. 150, 24 P.S. § 2400.1 et seq. (Act 150). Act 150 directed each county board of education to prepare within 90 days a plan of organization of administrative units limited to those school districts within the county which were not in an administrative unit established as a school district under Act 299. 24 P.S. § 2400.2. S. 14.

11. Acts 299 and 150 both provided for the plan of organization of administrative units to conform to standards for approval of administrative units adopted by the State Board and directed the State Board to prepare such standards, taking into account the following factors: topography, pupil population, community characteristics, transportation of pupils, use of existing buildings, existing administrative units, potential population changes and the capability of providing a comprehensive plan of education. 24 P.S. §§ 2400.1 and 2400.2; 24 P.S. §§ 2-291 and 2-292. Both Acts also provided that no plan of organization of administrative units should include any proposed school district with a pupil population of less than 4000 unless the factors listed above were considered by the State Board (or Council of Basic Education) as requiring approval of a plan in which any district contained a pupil population of less than 4000. 24 P.S. § 2400.3, 24 P.S. § 2-293.

12. Pursuant to the above provisions of Acts 299 and 150, the State Board adopted Standards for Approval of Administrative Units. These Standards, inter alia provided that:

(a) An administrative unit shall make available an educational program and educational opportunities to meet the varying needs, aptitudes, abilities, and interests of individuals residing in the administrative unit.
(b) Consideration should be given to whether a geographic area has developed the characteristics of a community. Community, as used here, includes one or more municipalities and the surrounding territory from where people came for business, social, recreational, fraternal or similar reasons. Neither race or religion shall be a factor in determining administrative unit boundaries and differences in the social and economic level of the population shall not be a basis to determine these boundaries.
A letter from the Superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction advised the County Boards, including the Allegheny County Board, that the intent of the language of the last sentence of the above paragraph was to prevent de jure segregation through the fixing of school district boundaries and that the language was not to be construed to permit de facto segregation on the basis of race, religion or national origin which is by law prohibited. Exhibit 40, T. 271-276.
(c) An administrative unit shall utilize existing buildings to the maximum extent practical avoiding unnecessary new construction where possible.
(d) Pupil population changes may be considered in the planning of administrative units where the changes are supported by reliable studies of area development showing past pupil population trends and future projections based on recognized statistical methods.
(e) Consideration shall be given to the capability of providing a comprehensive program of education which shall mean the ability to educate and train each child within his capacity to the extent demanded by the immediate requirements of his growth and his relationship to the strengthening of this Commonwealth and nation, and shall include, but not be limited to, wealth per pupil,
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