Does Majority Black School, Open To All, Uphold Segregation?

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court is set to hear arguments on whether the opening of a charter school in rural Louisiana violated a decades-old desegregation order.

Court briefs state that Greater Grace Charter Academy is in a district west of New Orleans that is 62 percent black. But the school opened with a 93 percent black enrollment.

Louisiana's education board approved the school's charter and U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman allowed the opening last August. He noted the school has a non-discriminatory enrollment policy. He said blocking the opening would punish students who chose to enroll there.

Opponents argue that approving a nearly one-race school "is contrary to the goals of desegregation."

Arguments were scheduled Tuesday morning at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.