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Tom Bartman, who helped end LA school busing, dies
A Los Angeles Unified School District bus.
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sulen1031/Flickr CC
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Tom Bartman, who helped end forced busing for integration in the Los Angeles Unified School District, has died. He was 67.
His wife, Eleanor, tells the Los Angeles Times that Bartman died of cancer on Monday at his Beverly Hills home.
The nation's second-largest school district began court-ordered busing in 1978. The compulsory program affected about 58,000 students.
Bartman was an attorney for the anti-busing group Bustop when he was elected to the school board in 1980, giving it a conservative majority.
After court actions cleared the way, Bartman voted with the majority in 1981 to dismantle the program. Bartman said he supported integration but not through mandatory busing.
He spent seven years on the board and was president twice.
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