END THE RANSOM

Missouri's fight against court-ordered desegregation in the Kansas City School District will soon head back to the courts. Negotiations broke down in late October, and Attorney General Jay Nixon says he will ask the court to rule that the district has been sufficiently desegregated. Such a ruling would release the state from court supervision.

The fact that the desegregation matter may be back in court is not a bad sign. Nixon is trying to protect the taxpayers of Missouri, who have been held hostage to ridiculously excessive desegregation funding in Kansas City. This money has been squandered on an Olympic-sized swimming pool and other amenities that most school districts can ill-afford. But the sad fact remains: More than $1 billion of state taxpayers' money hasn't improved educational conditions in the district.

The state thinks a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June allows Missouri to cut its court-ordered payments to the school district. Since June, the state has tried to reach agreement on ending state desegregation funding for Kansas City within four years. But the district says it cannot survive without desegregation funding. Nixon is right to look beyond the claims of a single district. It is time this court-ordered ransom ends.