TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- A federal judge essentially has released the Tucson Unified School District from a 30-year-old desegregation order.

U.S. District Judge David Bury issued a 59-page order on Wednesday granting what is called unitary status to the district. That means the school system's old racially segregated dual school system has been eliminated.

Class action lawsuits were filed against the district in 1978 on behalf of black students and Mexican-American students and employees.

The district has operated since then under a court-imposed desegregation order.

Bury granted unitary status to the district pending the court's acceptance of a district plan for proceeding after the desegregation order.

In his ruling, the judge noted that the settlement agreement the district entered in 1978 provided for the possibility of asking the court to dissolve the agreement after five years of operating under its terms.

He also cited an earlier statement that if TUSD had done so, it would have been far easier to assess what had been and hadn't been accomplished within that five-year time frame.

But instead, federal and state funds provided to the district for costs incurred because of the court-ordered desegregation made it beneficial for the district to keep operating under the settlement agreement, the statement said.

Ultimately, the inquiry that the court ordered to show why the case should not be closed spanned 27 years, Bury said.

The school district has received as much as $63 million a year in desegregation-related funds, and district officials have said that the district will continue to receive funds after the order is dissolved.

Retiring TUSD Superintendent Roger Pfeuffer said officials were satisfied with the ruling and look forward to working with the plaintiffs to adjust and finalize that plan.

But he added that "we are disappointed that Judge Bury did not find evidence of the district's good faith in our long, ongoing efforts to achieve the goals of the 1978 order.

"We are pleased that total control of the district will be turned back over to our elected governing board, with accountability to our TUSD community instead of the federal court."

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.