HEARNE, Texas -- Allegations of racism have been raised in dispute in Texas over who's attending school where.
The Justice Department and the Hearne Independent School District have sued the nearby Mumford school system. The suit alleges Mumford is interfering with a 1970 desegregation ruling by recruiting white students away from Hearne, a predominantly black and Hispanic district.
Mumford superintendent Pete Bienski said students transfer to Mumford schools for academic reasons.
Hearne Superintendent David Deaver said his four-school district could improve, but it was rated academically acceptable by the state from 1990 to 2000.
A federal appeals court this month stayed an order by a judge in Texas that had required all white students living in the Hearne district to return to their neighborhood schools.
In 1990, 32 percent of Hearne's students were white. By 2003-04 the figure had dropped to 13 percent.
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