National Ass'n for Advancement of Colored People v. San Bernardino City Unified School District

In April 1972, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and 10 individual minority students instituted this school desegregation class action against the San Bernardino City Unified School District, contending that the school district had failed to meet its constitutional obligations as set forth in this court’s decision in Jackson v. Pasadena City School Dist. (1963) 59 Cal.2d 876 [ 31 Cal.Rptr. 606 , 382 P.2d 878 ] or its statutory obligations under sections 5002 and 5003 of the Education Code. The trial court conducted a two-stage trial, the initial stage occurring in June 1972 and the second in May 1973; at the latter session a number of experts, appointed by the court to review the school district’s current desegregation plan, testified as to their findings. In September 1973, the trial court rendered judgment in favor of plaintiffs, ordering the school district to desegregate its schools by the fall semester óf 1974: The school district appeals from that judgment.

For the reasons discussed below, we affirm the trial court’s determination that segregation exists within the San Bernardino school district and that the district bears a…