LET MEDIATORS RESOLVE ST. LOUIS DESEG

Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon is promoting a $304 million plan that he says could jump-start sluggish negotiations to end busing in the 25-year-old St. Louis desegregation case. Negotiations are in the 17th month after U.S. District Judge George Gunn appointed former Washington University Chancellor William Danforth as mediator.

"It's important for the public to know what the options are," Nixon said at a St. Louis news conference announcing his proposal. "We will put a substantial offer on the table which will provide an unprecedented opportunity for this city to invest in its schools and its future."

A judge has ordered that the case not be discussed by the litigants, but Nixon said his proposal was simply "an idea, a plan, a paradigm," that might help the public get involved in the debate. Fine, Mr. Attorney General, but if the judge has ordered no discussion, why the press conference?

The Nixon proposal calls for investing $304 million to build 14 new schools and to renovate more than 70 of the district's 104 schools. It also calls for phasing out busing of students over a six-year period.

Over the last generation, Missouri has been home, in St. Louis and Kansas City, to the two most expensive desegregation cases in America. It is to be hoped that the court-ordered mediation can achieve a just settlement of this incredibly expensive case.