1961 US Commission on Civil Rights Report Book 2 - University of ...

1. State-imposed racial segregation in public educational facilities
creates inequality and therefore constitutes a denial of equal
protection of the laws under the Constitution. All schools in which
a State participates through any arrangement, management, funds,
or property are subject to this rule. All provisions of Federal, State,
or local law requiring or permitting racial segregation in public
schools are void.
2. All school authorities operating segregated school systems have
a duty to make a prompt and reasonable effort in good faith to comply
with the Constitution. The primary responsibility for elucidating,
assessing, and solving the problems of desegregation rests with
the local school authorities.
3. In many locations this duty would require immediate general
admission of Negro children. In others justification for not requiring
immediate general admission of all qualified Negro children
may exist. Hostility to racial desegregation is, however, not a
ground for delay.
4. If immediate general admission of all qualified Negro children
is not required, the desegregation program must: (a) point toward
complete compliance at the earliest possible date; and (b) be in
effect before additional time may be granted. "The burden rests
upon the defendants to establish that such time is necessary . . ." 81
5. In fixing the limits of the transitional period for the complete
effectiveness of a desegregation plan the courts may consider problems
related to administration arising from: (a) the physical condition
of the school plant; (b} the school transportation system;
(c) the school personnel; (d] the need to revise school districts and
attendance areas; and (e] the need to revise local laws and
regulations.
6. A pupil placement law listing factors which are to govern
the assignment of pupils without regard to race or color is not
necessarily invalid and may furnish the legal machinery for orderly
administration of public schools in a constitutional manner. The
constitutionality of the administration of a pupil placement law is,
however, a legal question distinct from the constitutionality of
the law itself.
QUESTIONS ARISING FROM THE RULES
Although the rules summarized above seem reasonably clear, they leave
room for debate on three general questions. First, what distinctions in
admission and assignment of pupils to public schools are constitutionally
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