Green v. County School Board of New Kent County
"Green v. County School Board of New Kent County" is a landmark Supreme Court case addressing issues of school desegregation in the United States. The case arose from a Virginia school board's implementation of a "freedom of choice" plan, which allowed students to select schools based on personal preference, but resulted in negligible integration. Specifically, no white students opted to attend a formerly all-black school, highlighting the inefficacy of the plan in promoting racial integration. The Supreme Court deemed this approach "intolerable," emphasizing the need for more proactive measures to achieve desegregation in line with the earlier decision in Brown v. Board of Education.
The ruling shifted the focus from merely providing equal educational opportunities to the necessity of achieving actual integration, using numerical criteria as a standard for compliance. While the Court did not outright declare freedom of choice plans unconstitutional, it expressed skepticism regarding their potential to foster meaningful integration. This case is significant as it reinforced the federal government's role in overseeing desegregation and underscored the ongoing challenges faced in the quest for racial equality in education. As such, it serves as an important reference point in discussions around educational policy and civil rights.
Green v. County School Board of New Kent County
Date: May 27, 1968
Citation: 391 U.S. 430
Issue: School integration and busing
Significance: The Supreme Court called for integration of public school facilities rather than a desegregation of schools.
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled “intolerable” a Virginia county school board plan allowing a freedom of choice plan. Under this plan, no white student in the rural, mixed black and white district had chosen to attend a formerly all-black public school that had been legally opened up to all races, and a relatively small number of black students were attending the previously all-white school. Brown v. Board of Education II (1955) had called for “all deliberate speed” in desegregation. Although on its face Green was only a case to specify the acceptable time limits in accordance with Brown II, it actually shifted the emphasis in school desegregation from formal or legal equality of educational opportunity to a numerical standard for determining compliance with desegregation orders in previously formally segregated schools. Although the Court did not declare freedom of choice plans to be inevitably unconstitutional, it expressed doubt that such plans could achieve integration.
