CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Voluntary Rules on Integration Dropped

The State Board of Education has repealed its voluntary school desegregation regulations, a move that could save the state millions of dollars in payments to local school districts. Critics, however, say that the action reduces the state’s commitment to integration. In a case involving the Long Beach schools, the regulations were interpreted by the courts as requiring 100% state reimbursement for such voluntary desegregation measures as magnet schools. Although repealing the rules should prevent such legal judgments in the future, it leaves unsolved the question of how to pay for as much as $550 million owed to local school districts for past voluntary programs. State education officials said the board’s decision does not open the way for a return to segregated schools.