DAYTON, Ohio — A federal judge is to announce a decision today in a desegregation dispute. The school district and state seek to end more than 25 years of cross-town busing to achieve racial balance, the Ohio Department of Education said.

        Settlement talks were done by Sunday evening, but U.S. District Court Judge Walter Rice asked the participants not to discuss the results, said Dorothea Howe, Education Department spokeswoman. Ms. Rice scheduled a hearing and a press conference for this afternoon.

        Without a settlement, the issue would go to trial today.

        Dayton's is the only school system in Ohio still under a desegregation order to achieve racial balance.

        In February 2001, the school board asked Judge Rice to lift the busing order. However, the NAACP, which filed the lawsuit that led to the order, said children still suffer the effects of years of segregation.

        Since then, the school district, NAACP and state have been engaged in talks aimed at settling the dispute out of court. After negotiations stalled in December, Rice appointed Central State University President John Garland to mediate the talks and set a Monday deadline for a resolution.

        The city began busing students to schools across town in 1976 in response to the court's desegregation order. School board officials say they now favor ending cross-town busing because about 73 percent of the students in the district are black and busing them across town serves little purpose.

        In November, the NAACP agreed not to fight to keep the court order if the school district promised to invest nearly $100 million in programs to improve academic achievement.

        But the state balked at the proposal, saying the district could not afford it. The state has promised to give Dayton $32.3 million if the order is lifted in exchange for not having to make yearly payments to help with the cost of busing.

        Not all students are bused outside their neighborhoods. Students pick their first three choices of schools, with racial balance one factor in determining where the students are assigned.

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