disruptive element in education today is the widespread use of compulsory transportation, especially at elementary grade levels." And the costs to school districts spawned by litigation over forced busing have been horrendous, as may be seen from the statement of the Los Angeles Unified School District in its Petition for Writ of Certiorari, re Ninth Judicial Circuit decision No. CA-81-5772, to the Supreme Court in the October Term, 1984:

During 1969-1981 the Crawford litigation resulted in 26,351 pages of written testimony, 91 witnesses called, 564 documentary exhibits, 29 special writ proceedings taken, and 17 applications for state appellate review.

The cost to the District of all the foregoing proceedings and the court ordered desegregation plans was in excess of $910,000,000.

In addition to having the foregoing results, a desegregation order, to paraphrase Justice Scalia, suspends the operation of the democratic process in the school district affected. But, as a result of the endeavor of school districts in Oklahoma City and DeKalb County, Georgia, to proceed with neighborhood school plans, the Supreme Court has made it clear this suspension is temporary. Furthermore, court control can be ended incrementally, allowing neighborhood plans if a district can show to the satisfaction of the court unification in that area of school operations.

But even if a school board is satisfied it has achieved unitary status in student assignments to the extent possible, it may still hesitate, notwithstanding majoritarian constituent demand, to proceed in court toward a neighborhood plan. A major deterrent is the cognizance, from past experience and that of other school districts, of the litigation expense that it will face in any attempt to terminate court control over student assignments.

The magnitude of the organized opposition to such an effort, with its array of legal talent and financial backing, is evident from the struggles in behalf of neighborhood school plans in Los Angeles, Oklahoma City, and DeKalb County related in the foregoing chapters.