pupils to particular schools. The text of
the plan says: ‘
“Assignments would be based upon
the welfare of the particular child as
well as the welfare and best interests of
all other pupils attending a particular
school.
“The school board should be author-
ized to take into consideration such fac-
tors as availability of facilities, health,
aptitude of the child and the availability
of transportation.”
How this assignment plan could be
used to keep races apart for the next
several years is shown by this sentence
of the plan’s text:
“Children who have heretotore at-
tended a particular public school would
not be reassigned to a difterent one ex-
cept tor good cause shown.”
This would mean that children now in
school would remain in their present
schools—which are segregated—for the
remainder of their school careers.
In assigning new students, it is gener-
ally expected, most school boards would
interpret the regulations in such a way
as to assign Negroes to certain schools
and whites to others.
What could a Negro do if he objected
to his school assignment? ,
Parents of any student, Negro or white,
could ask for a review of the assignment
by the school board. If the board refused
to change the assignment, parents could
appeal to a State circuit court or corpo-
ration court for a trial of the issue.
It generally takes about a year to con-
clude such a court test, and then the
50
verdict still could be appealed all the
way up to the U. S. Supreme Court.
So some opponents of mixed schools
hope that, even if the assignment plan
should eventually be ruled unconstitu-
tional, several years of delay might be
won for continued segregation.
What happens if a school board as-
signs Negroes and whites to the same
school?
The plan for private-school tuition is
designed to meet that eventuality.
If all schools in his community were
mixed, a child, through his parents,
could apply for a grant from public funds
to help pay his tuition in a segregated
private school. Grants would be made
available to both Negroes and whites.
Tuition grants could be used only for
nonsectarian schools. _
The amount of the grant, for each
child, would be limited to the amount
per student being spent in the commu-
nity for public education. Generally, in
Virginia, those amounts would range
from $110 per year to $350.
Then any community would be per-
mitted to mix its schools if it desired?
Yes. The plan provides “local option”
on this question.
In parts of Virginia where Negroes are
only a small percentage of the popula-
tion, it is expected that some communi-
ties will go ahead and integrate their
schools.
One idea being discussed is that one
school in a locality might be mixed, an-
other school kept unmixed, through the
assignment system. In this case, objec-
THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES OF VIRGINIA
Legislators have a plan to make sure ““that no child be required to attend an integrated schoo
o
o
tors to integration could be assigned to
the unmixed school. This would provide
a form of “individual option” as well as
“local option.” But private-school tuition
would not be granted if a segregated
public school were available.
Some Virginians predict that several
communities might find themselves main-
taining public schools attended only by
Negroes—with all the white children
going to private schools.
Could a school district close its public
schools to avoid any integration?
Yes, the plan provides for that, too.
And some counties already have begun
making preparations to do so. In coun-
ties where public schools are abandoned.,
all children—white or Negro—would be
eligible for grants for private-school
tuition.
State-wide closing of public schools,
however, is not proposed, and sponsors
of the Virginia plan say it is not con-
templated. Hope is expressed that few
schools actually would be shut down.
Virginia’s State constitution requires
that the State maintain an efficient sys-
tem of free public education—and the
plan does not propose to repeal or alter
that constitutional provision.
Where would the money to pay pri-
vate-school tuition come from?
From the sources where public
schools now get their money. Counties
would continue to levy taxes for educa-
tion, and the State would continue to
contribute to counties’ school funds on
the same basis as at present. This would