The attorney responded that open enrollment, in which parents and their children select the schools of their choice, would not cause dissatisfaction.

Winder asked Nielson what kind of blueprint for the schools he expected from the court if the judge ruled in his favor.

"We're not asking the court to run the schools," Nielson said. He said the plaintiffs want the court to remand the decision back to the school board for a more appropriate decision.

Nielson said the plaintiffs are asking for "a declaration that parents have certain rights."

He said he agreed with the defendants that the Legislature gave school boards broad discretion so they can limit enrollment based on such things as money or facilities but "not that they run roughshod over the reasonable choices of parents in the education of their children."

"No state law grants (the board) power to rearrange (students) around the city to fit its own notion of what racial balance should be," Nielson said.