FOR RELEASE                                                               Contact: Henry Duvall

August 21, 2006                                                                         (202) 393-2427

Urban School Coalition Decries Bush Administration Opposition

To School Diversity Programs

WASHINGTON, Aug. 21 -- The Council of the Great City Schools, the coalition of the nation’s largest central city school districts, fundamentally opposes the Bush Administration’s decision to file  U.S. Supreme Court amicus briefs today challenging the Seattle and Jefferson County, Ky., (Louisville) programs to maintain integrated schools and prevent racial re-segregation of their school systems.

The Council will file an amicus brief in the Supreme Court of the United States supporting the Seattle and Jefferson County school districts that prevailed in both the 6^th and 9^th Circuit Courts of Appeals.

The Seattle and Jefferson County school districts have exercised good faith efforts over many years to maintain desegregated school systems, which the Council believes is a compelling governmental interest.  The limited use of racial considerations to voluntarily prevent racial isolation among the nation’s school systems should not be limited to only de jure segregation.

“The Council views the Administration’s stance before the Supreme Court as counterproductive for school districts trying to maintain a diverse and desegregated environment capable of meeting the needs of all children,” said Council Executive Director Michael Casserly. “This is a giant step backward for the United States, which hopefully will be rejected by the Court.”                                                        
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