The No Child Left Behind Act (P.L.- 107-110) was signed into law on Jan. 8, 2002. The House had passed the then-titled Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) (H.R. 1) on May 23, 2001, with the Senate passing its own version on June 14. The status of the bill has been discussed in previous issues of the Monitor (Vol.11 No.2 and
No.3)
There were several other issues of particular concern to the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) Education Task Force.
The hate crimes prevention language included in H.R. 1 eliminated the Department of Education's existing authority to develop and support anti-bias prevention programs. The Senate version, under "Safe and Drug Free Schools (Section 4123)", which was included in the enrolled bill, maintained this current law provision.
The Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act (Section 1301/ Section 921) sponsored by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC) and Rep. Van Hilleary (R-TN), sought to deny any federal education funding to any school district or state education agency that has been found to discriminate against the Boy Scouts of America, or any other youth group that denies membership to gays and lesbians. It created a mandate that any school board that allowed access to its facilities for any youth group must allow the same access to the Boy Scouts or any other youth group that denies membership to gays or lesbians. Civil rights advocates and others contended that the Helms/Hilleary language was an unnecessary, unwarranted intrusion into a local school district's ability to set standards of use for their own facilities. Civil rights advocates also expressed concern that the language would bestow upon the Boy Scouts and other youth groups a unique consideration that is not available to other groups. An amendment by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), the Equal Access to Public School Facilities amendment (Section 1501), required that groups be treated equally with respect to their access to school facilities and regardless of their position on sexual orientation. While both amendments were included in the Senate-passed version of the bill, only the Helms amendment was included in the enrolled bill (Section 9525) and the Boxer provision was deleted.
The Leadership Conference supported the continuation and strengthening of school reform measures to promote high standards for all students and hold school officials accountable for student progress. Included were provisions requiring that schools ensure progress for students of color, economically disadvantaged students, and disabled students. Beginning in the fall of 2002, students in failing schools will have the right to transfer to better performing schools.
