This week Sheff v. O’Neil, the state’s seminal school desegregation case, was back in court — and the judge’s ruling doesn’t look good for students on the waiting lists in Hartford.

Superior Court Judge Marshall Berger ruled this week not to allow the state to fill empty magnet schools seats with Hartford students — The Connecticut Mirror has the story:

“Twenty-one years after the Connecticut Supreme Court ordered the state to integrate Hartford’s schools – and told legislators and governors to put it “at the top of their respective agendas” – the Superior Court judge overseeing compliance with the order is troubled the state has no plan to integrate city schools that remain segregated.

“There is alarmingly no real evidence or an indication of a plan for the future,” Hartford Superior Court Judge Marshall Berger ruled this week in a decision that, as expected, rejected the state’s effort to fill empty seats in the Hartford region’s desegregated magnet schools with more black and Hispanic students from Hartford.

So, now what?

As of yet, neither side got the resolution they were looking for.

The Sheff plaintiff’s asked the courts to force the state to infuse more money into Hartford’s desegregation efforts, but as of yet, no date was set to hear that motion.The state certainly didn’t get what it was seeking.

In the end, it looks like things will remain the same.

Kids in Hartford will continue to remain on waiting lists, while the taxpayer will continue to pay for empty seats.