Lawsuit targets St. Louis-area school desegregation plan

The suit names the Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corp., a nonprofit governed by a board of superintendents of the 16 county school districts involved in the desegregation program.

A 1983 desegregation agreement sought to "balance the racial makeup of the city and county schools" by allowing black city students to transfer to the county, and white county students to transfer to the city, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said in a statement.

[...] White's attorney, Joshua Thompson of the Pacific Legal Foundation, said the agreement specifically singles out blacks who live in St. Louis County, barring them from transferring to city schools while allowing whites and students of other races to do so.

School officials at Gateway did not respond to interview requests, but have said previously they want to allow Edmund to attend but are bound by the desegregation agreement.