Kansas City, Mo ? After 26 years of costly litigation, the Kansas City school district’s $2 billion federal desegregation case is officially over.

Arthur A. Benson II, attorney for the plaintiff schoolchildren, withdrew his appeal Friday of an August ruling that said the district had met all the legal requirements to end federal court oversight.

Benson declined to say why he decided not to pursue the appeal.

On Aug. 13, U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple ruled on the only issue that had remained in the case, the black-white achievement gap, saying the district had narrowed the gap enough that its racial desegregation program no longer needed court supervision.

Whipple had earlier ended court oversight of racial balance, facilities, budget and transportation.

Benson appealed after the August ruling, but on Friday, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis received his motion to voluntary withdrawing that appeal.

Supt. Bernard Taylor issued a statement saying he was confident the district had proved it met court obligations for reducing the achievement gap.

“The desegregation case is now, once and for all, over,” Taylor said.

Charles McClain, who monitored the case for Whipple until last month, said it was now up to the state education agency to make sure the district provided a quality education for all its students.

Missouri spent almost $11 million on legal bills in the case.

District officials estimated that the district’s legal bills for the case averaged about $1 million a year.