Missouri v. Jenkins
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Missouri v. Jenkins, 495 U.S. 33 (1990), is a case decided by the United States Supreme Court. On June 12, 1995 the Court, in a 5-4 decision, overturned a District Court ruling that required the state of Missouri to correct de facto racial inequality in schools by funding salary increases and remedial education programs.
The Supreme Court majority interpreted Brown v. Board of Education as restricting only de jure segregation, and referred to Milliken v. Bradley and other precedents as applying only to intra-district desegregation. In other words, the conservative Supreme Court of 1995 argued that the lower courts had exceeded their authority in ordering measures such as across-the-board state-funded salary increases, and in the order to fund continued quality education programs that could not be sustained by local government
The case began in 1977 when the Kansas City, Missouri School District (KCMSD) sued the state of Missouri, federal agencies, and suburban districts around Kansas City on behalf of the district's students. The District Court then instead named the school district as a defendant. The courts held that the state of Missouri was liable for segregated schools within the boundaries of KCMSD. Originally the school district wanted a "metropolitan plan," which would have included bus transfers to even out the racial inequalities of inner-city and suburban schools. However, over the 18 year span of the case, the court ordered remedies focused instead on improving educational facilities and programs.
In 1985, the district court then ordered the legal remedy of educational improvement programs, school facility repairs, and magnet schools, which were thought to be the best way to attract white suburban students back into city schools. In 1987, the district courts ordered mandatory salary assistance, arguing that in order to end segregation in the schools the district needed higher-paid, quality teachers, and in 1993 the district court ordered the state to pay for salary increases for teaching and non-teaching personnel.
