on Friday a state Superior Court Judge ruled in a highly anticipated case regarding the high rates of segregation in New Jersey schools and found the state failed to address the racial imbalance or remedy the situation but the judge also rejected plaintiff's claims of Statewide segregation and the argument that New Jersey needs to fix segregation based on student poverty the lawsuit was filed in 2018 by a group of students school districts and educ education Advocates arguing that the state policy requiring students to attend school where they live violates their student rights but a senior political correspondent David Cruz reports the judge's ruling doesn't answer what the state is supposed to do next for decision that took over a year to get to and was released in news dump territory late on a Friday afternoon of a three-day weekend the much anticipated ruling in the school segregation lawsuit brought by the Latino Action Network and others did little to move the case along although the plaintiff's lawyer said there was much to his liking in the 99 Pages oh I think he ruled on a lot yeah um his ruling reinforces that segregation is a significant problem in New Jersey's Public Schools it reinforces that it's the state's obligation to address that it makes clear that home rule is no excuse for it um and it finds a tremendous number of facts in our favor Larry lber says the judge didn't rule on either side's request for summary judgment and left both sides wondering what their next move is or even if there is a next move unusual situation when a judge finds all the facts in your favor and then doesn't ultimately find in your favor with regard to the ultimate question um and we have to consider very carefully what that means in terms of next steps does it mean there's a trial does it mean there's an appeal does it mean that we begin a negotiation process Governor Murphy has stayed away from weighing in on the suit Friday's ruling didn't change that either a statement says our Administration remains committed to creating Equitable and inclusive learning environments that reflect the diversity of our state which is pretty much what the governor has been saying now literally for years NJ Spotlight education reporter Hannah gross says regardless of what comes next this case has just begun it's a lot to sort through in the 99 page decision and the judge um did not Grant summary judgment in many of the places where both parties wanted it so there could be a protracted trial um but it's it's hard to say I mean this lawsuit was filed five years ago and it's been about a year since the oral argument so we could see that it's taken a really long time so if there is an appeal which would be detered within the next 20 days it's likely that will take a long time to be sorted out as well and in the meantime doesn't seem like there would be action on these districts where there is a high level of segregation the truth is that the timing of this ruling has caught most of the stakeholders flat-footed lawmakers we were able to reach hadn't even read the ruling today and plaintiffs deferred to their lawyer if this is how this case ends it will be with a whimper where it seems everyone involved believes a bang is what's needed I'm David Cruz NJ Spotlight News NJ Spotlight News