Stout vs. Jefferson Board of Education was filed in 1965—eleven years after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education—by LDF and local counsel, Oscar Adams on behalf of a class of Black schoolchildren. After several years of litigation, a federal trial court imposed a remedial desegregation plan in 1971, which remained in effect for over fifty years. The 1971 Order required the Jefferson County schools to change their practices in a number of different areas, including school construction, alteration of zone lines, transfers, and the assignment of faculty, staff and students. While some progress has been made to remove vestiges of the previously segregated school system, much work is left to do to ensure the promise of equitable and inclusive education for all Jefferson County students.
Since the outset of the suit, the parties have made progress to remove some vestiges of the previously segregated school system, but progress in the county has been obstructed by “white flight” splinter districts—individual municipalities within the county that leave the county school district to form their own independent municipal district. These communities are typically much whiter than the county and consistently wealthier, and their departure removes valuable resources from the county schools while increasing the racial imbalance in those schools.
In 2014, the city of Gardendale announced its intention to separate from the Jefferson County School District, shortly after the county built a new $51 million high school in the city, for the use of all county students. Contrary to legal precedent, Gardendale, which is both whiter and wealthier than the average, has claimed that it has no responsibility to continue to desegregate the public schools that it seeks to control. LDF with local counsel, Judge U.W. Clemon, and joined by the Department of Justice and the Jefferson County Board of Education—has opposed Gardendale’s efforts to separate from the county school system. Plaintiffs oppose this secession because it furthers segregation in the county and impedes the ability of the county school system to desegregate, by creating a school district that will be disproportionately whiter than the county as a whole and force students to go more racially segregated schools.
On August 26, 2016, LDF, on behalf of the plaintiff class of Black students in an ongoing school desegregation case, filed an objection in federal court to the city of Gardendale, Alabama’s secession from the Jefferson County School District in order to form a separate predominately white school district.
On March 3, 2025, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama approved and entered a historic Consent Decree in Stout v. Jefferson County Board of Education, a sixty-year-old school desegregation case aimed at ensuring that every student has access to high-quality, inclusive education. The agreement will bring critical reforms to Jefferson County Schools to address the enduring consequences of racial segregation within the district and its educational facilities.
The Consent Decree includes a comprehensive set of actions aimed at remedying segregation and ensuring fairer access in Jefferson County, including:
The Consent Decree also has robust reporting requirements.
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