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Garner Considers Suing School District Over Busing

Town officials planned to meet with attorneys Wednesday to discuss a possible lawsuit against Wake County Schools over its busing practices.

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GARNER, N.C. — Town officials planned to meet with attorneys Wednesday to discuss a possible lawsuit against the Wake County school system over its busing practices.

To diversify enrollments at its schools, the district buses thousands of students to schools outside their neighborhoods based on socioeconomic factors such as qualification for free or reduced-price lunches.

Garner Mayor Ronnie Williams said he thinks too many local students are being bused out of town while too many students from elsewhere in the county are being bused into Garner.

"I'm a proponent of busing to achieve diversity," Williams said. "(But) our new focus for these opted-out (local) students is to get them back to Garner schools."

Lower-income students have performed better on state tests because of the busing policy, district officials have said.

Williams and members of a group called Greater Garner are discussing a lawsuit with Charlotte attorneys who represented a group of parents in 1999 in a suit that ended a 30-year court-ordered desegregation policy in Wake County Schools.

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