A federal judge is ending a large part of an Arkansas desegregation case rooted in the Little Rock Central High School crisis of 1957.
The lawsuit was originally filed by a Little Rock school district in 1982. It said state policies were still creating racial imbalance despite changes made since nine black teenagers needed federal troops to enter Little Rock Central nearly six decades ago.
Arkansas went on to give three school districts more than $1 billion to promote integration.
Judge D.P. Marshall Jr. ruled in January the schools had made enough progress to allow the state to end its payments in four years.
He formalized that decision Thursday by dismissing the state and two districts from the case. The rural Pulaski County district remains under court supervision.
