Education
LCCR applauds President Bush for placing education at the top of his agenda. Equal educational opportunity is one of the primary goals of the civil rights movement. We urge the Administration to approach education reform in a manner true to the spirit and substance of Brown v. Board of Education.
The expected reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) by the 107th Congress is a paramount concern. Of particular importance is the continued vitality of Title I of the ESEA, which targets financial assistance to local education agencies to meet the needs of disadvantaged children. In 1994, Congress shifted the focus of Title I from remedial education to achieving high standards and higher achievement for all students — goals President Bush championed in Texas and in his recent presidential campaign.
The Bush Administration and the 107th Congress must remain true to these objectives by:
- Continuing the standards-based reforms adopted in 1994, including provisions holding education officials accountable for student progress.
- Improving the quality of teaching in low-income schools and ensuring that those teachers have ample opportunities for professional development.
- Increasing the resources for improved teaching, lower class size, and curriculum in high poverty schools so that all children have an opportunity to learn.
- Including students with disabilities in Title I reforms.
- Improving opportunities for students with Limited English Proficiency.
- Guaranteeing that children served under the ESEA who are removed from school for disciplinary reasons continue to receive educational services.
- Ensuring that block grant programs do not undermine the Title I goals of targeting low-income schools and establishing accountability standards.
- Ensuring that school districts are held accountable for misconduct. In this regard, we note the decision of the Supreme Court in Gebser v. Lago Vista Independent School District, 524 U.S. 274 (1998). The Court held that a student who is sexually harassed by a teacher cannot receive damages under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 unless a school district official with authority to institute corrective measures had actual notice of, and was deliberately indifferent to, the teacher's misconduct. In establishing this high hurdle to recovery, the Court again ignored the broad remedial purposes of the statute it was interpreting.
- Ensuring that educational institutions are held accountable for discrimination. Too many students still encounter significant barriers to equal education because of their sex, race, national origin, age or disability. The Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights should commit itself to strong enforcement of Title IX, Title VI, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Age Discrimination Act.
Title IX is a case in point. After more than 20 years of inaction, Executive Branch agencies finally issued regulations implementing Title IX in 2000. The Administration must vigorously enforce these regulations and hold federal agencies accountable for eliminating sex discrimination in federally funded education programs and activities.
Similarly, the education programs run by the federal government must be nondiscriminatory. Such discrimination may prevent otherwise-qualified persons from taking advantage of important opportunities such as National Science Foundation scholarships. The Administration should vigorously enforce Executive Order 13160, which prohibits such programs from discriminating on the bases of race, sex, national origin and other categories.
- Ensuring that students with disabilities are receiving appropriate education under IDEA and that states are held accountable when they are found out of compliance with IDEA's core civil rights requirements.
- Taking enforcement action in several critical areas:
- implementing the testing guidance promulgated by the Clinton Administration to assure that tests are valid, fair and conform with the Civil Rights laws;
- holding states and LEAs accountable for complying with Title I; and
- continuing support efforts by school boards and others to keep schools racially integrated and diverse by resisting legal attacks on desegregation policies.
In our view, quality education can best be achieved through high-quality public institutions. Most Americans appear to share this view — among other successful public education ballot initiatives around the country, voters in four states (California, Colorado, Arizona, and Washington) approved ballot measures to boost funding for public schools. We share the voters' commitment to maintaining a strong public school system and call on the Administration to join that effort.
