Attorney General Griffin: ‘I applaud this decision, which will further empower parents to make the education-freedom decision that’s best for their family regardless of skin color’
LITTLE ROCK – Attorney General Tim Griffin issued the following statement announcing that a federal district court has terminated the consent decrees that had restricted some students from transferring based on the color of their skin: “For decades, federal district court judges have maintained and expanded consent decrees that ban white Camden-Fairview students from transferring to Harmony Grove without special permission, while allowing Camden-Fairview students of every other skin color to do so and allowing all students in other districts to do so. We asked the court to terminate the consent decrees, arguing that the white-student transfer ban interferes with the State’s chosen policy of education freedom, exceeds the court’s authority, and violates the Constitution by denying a group of schoolchildren educational opportunities solely because of the color of their skin. This week, the district court granted our motion and terminated the consent decrees.
“I applaud this decision, which will further empower parents to make the education-freedom decision that’s best for their family regardless of skin color. For example, the intervenors will be able to send their daughter to the public school that is best for their family, which is the public school where both her grandmothers work.”
