Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 13, September 23, 2024
Subpart
1.
Review of data.
The commissioner shall review the data provided by a school
district under part
3535.0120 within 60 days of its
receipt. If the commissioner determines that there is a racially identifiable
school within a district, or if the commissioner receives a complaint alleging
that a district is engaged in acts of segregation, the commissioner shall
request further information to determine whether the racial composition at the
school or schools in question results from acts motivated at least in part by a
discriminatory purpose. The commissioner's finding of a discriminatory purpose
must be based on one or more of the following except that the commissioner
shall not rely solely on item D or E, or both:
A. the historical background of the acts
which led to the racial composition of the school, including whether the acts
reveal a series of official actions taken for discriminatory
purposes;
B. whether the specific
sequence of events resulting in the school's racial composition reveals a
discriminatory purpose;
C.
departures from the normal substantive or procedural sequence of decision
making, as evidenced, for example, by the legislative or administrative history
of the acts in question, especially if there are contemporary statements by
district officials, or minutes or reports of meetings that demonstrate a
discriminatory purpose;
D. whether
the racial composition of the school is the result of acts which disadvantage
one race more than another, as evidenced, for example, when protected students
are bused further or more frequently than white students; and
E. whether the racially identifiable
composition of the school was predictable given the policies or practices of
the district.
Subp. 2.
District information.
In order to determine whether a racially identifiable school
exists as the result of acts motivated by a discriminatory purpose, the
commissioner shall request and the district shall provide the following
information related to the factors described in subpart
1:
A. information about how students are
assigned to schools within the district, including:
(1) for schools which have been newly added
or renovated or if attendance zones have changed, a description of what the
attendance zones were and what the racial composition of each zone was at the
time the school was planned and added or renovated;
(2) a description of the assignment and
transfer options at each of the schools serving the grade levels in question,
and the outreach efforts that were made to ensure parents received information
about and were able to understand the availability of those options;
and
(3) a comparison of the racial
composition of the attendance area of the school in question as it relates to
the composition of the district as a whole;
B. a list of curricular offerings;
C. a list of the extracurricular options
available at each of the schools serving the grade levels in
question;
D. a list that breaks
down, by race and school, the teachers assigned to all of the schools serving
the grade levels in question and, considering the average percentage of
teachers of color in the district, an explanation of any concentration of
teachers of color assigned at a school at issue;
E. a list that shows how the qualifications
and experience of the teachers at the racially identifiable school compares to
teachers at the sites which are not racially identifiable;
F. evidence that the racially identifiable
school has been provided financial resources on an equitable basis with other
schools which are not racially identifiable;
G. a comparison of the facilities, materials,
and equipment at the racially identifiable school with schools that are not
racially identifiable;
H.
information that would allow the commissioner to determine whether the extent
of busing is disproportionate between white students and protected students;
and
I. any nondiscriminatory
circumstances that explain why a particular school has exceeded the
districtwide enrollment of protected students by more than 20 percentage
points.
Subp. 3.
Integrated alternatives.
If the enrollment of protected students at a school is more
than 25 percent above the enrollment of protected students in the entire
district, or if the enrollment of protected students exceeds 90 percent at any
given school, whichever is less, the district must provide affirmative evidence
to the commissioner that all students in that school have alternatives to
attend schools with a protected student enrollment that is comparable to the
districtwide average.
Statutory Authority: MS s
124D.896
