Arnulfo M. Diaz Socorro Diaz v. San Jose Unified School District

We review and affirm an order approving the 1988-89 Student Assignment Plan for the San Jose Unified School District.

An en banc panel of this court ruled that the school district acted with segregative intent in maintaining racially imbalanced schools, and ordered the district court to fashion an appropriate remedy. Diaz v. San Jose Unified School Dist., 733 F.2d 660 (9th Cir.1984), cert. denied, 471 U.S. 1065 , 105 S.Ct. 2140 , 85 L.Ed.2d 497 (1985). The district court, after receiving proposals from plaintiffs, the class of all Spanish-sur-named students enrolled in the San Jose district and their parents, and the defendant school district, drafted an elaborate desegregation order. 633 F.Supp. 808 (N.D.Cal.1985). It set interim annual goals, projecting that 90% of all students would attend desegregated schools by 1990.

The court adopted an approach designed “to maximize the ability of a student and his or her parents to choose voluntarily which school the student will attend.” Id. at 815 . To facilitate voluntary student movement to desegregated schools, it ordered the district to establish (1) district-wide magnet schools; (2) schools with specialty enrichment programs; and…