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Busing (10)
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James M. Cannon Files (Ford Administration)
James Cannon's Issues Files
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Busing for school integration
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The original documents are located in Box 6, folder "Busing (10)" of the James M. Cannon
Files at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Gerald Ford donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Digitized from Box 6 of the James M. Cannon Files at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
June 23, 1976
SIGNING OF BUSING MESSAGE
Thursday, June 24, 1976
11:30 a.m. (10 minutes)
The Oval Office
From: Jim Cannon
I. PURPOSE
To sign your Message to Congress on busing.
II. BACKGROUND, PARTICIPANTS & PRESS PLAN
A. Background: After your series of meetings regarding
school desegregation and busing, your Message to
Congress is prepared for signing and transmittal
to Congress, along with draft legislation.
B. Participants: See list attached at Tab A.
C. Press Plan: To be announced. Photo opportunity.
III. TALKING POINTS
To be supplied by Bob Orben.
FORD & LIBRARY GERALD
PARTICIPANTS
Justice Department
Attorney General Edward H. Levi
Ronald G. Carr, Special Assistant to the Attorney General
John J. Buckley, Jr., Special Assistant to the Attorney General
HEW
Secretary F. David Mathews
William A. Morrill, Assistant Secretary, Planning & Evaluation
William H. Taft, General Counsel
Joffre Whisenton, Special Assistant to the Secretary
Staff
Jim Cannon
Max Friedersdorf
Bobbie Kilberg
Jack Marsh
Dick Parsons
FORD & LIBRARY DERALD
Art Quern
from Cavanaugh
EPS FORM 25
(03/75)-
EXECUTIVE PROTECTIVE SERVICE
To:
Officer-in-charge
Appointments Center
Room 060, OEOB
Thursday, June 24,
Please admit the following appointments on
- 19 76
The President
for
of
:
(Name of person to be visited)
(Agency)
BUCKLEY, John J., Jr., Special Assistant to the Attorney General,
Justice Department
CARR, Ronald G., Special Assistant to the Attorney General,
Justice Department
MORRILL, William A., Assistant Secretary of HEW for
Planning & Evaluation
TAFT, William H., General Counsel of HEW
WHISENTON, Joffre, Special Assistant to the Secretary of HEW
FORD LIBRANT
MEETING LOCATION
Building West Wing
Requested by Jim Cavanaugh (Valentine)
Room No. Oval Office
Room No2 WW Telephone 2861
Time of Meeting 11:30 a.m.
Date of request
June 23, 1976
Additions and/or changes made by telephone should be limited to three (3) names or less.
DO NOT DUPLICATE THIS FORM.
APPOINTMENTS CENTER: SIG/OEOB - 395-6046 or WHITE HOUSE -- 456-6742
EPS FORM 25
(03/75)
EXECUTIVE PROTECTIVE SERVICE
To:
Officer-in-charge
Appointments Center
Room 060, OEOB
Thursday, June 24,
Please admit the following appointments on
1976
.
The President
of
:
for
(Name of person to be visited)
(Agency)
LEVI, Edward H., Attorney General
MATHEWS, F. David, Secretary of HEW
PERKINS, Congressman Carl D. (Kentucky)
RODINO, Congressman Peter W. (New Jersey)
Sanford Winston, HEW (Exec. Asst. for admin.)
Bill Jones, Security (lobby)
FORD LIBRARY & 938870
MEETING LOCATION
West Wing
Building
Requested by Jim Cavanaugh (Valentine)
Oval Office
Room No.
Room No. 2nd WW Telephone 2861
11 a.m.
June 23, 1976
Time of Meeting
Date of request
Additions and/or changes made by telephone should be limited to three (3) names or less.
DO NOT DUPLICATE THIS FORM.
APPOINTMENTS CENTER: SIG/OEOB - 395-6046 or WHITE HOUSE - 456-6742
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
June 23, 1976
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
FROM:
JIM CANNON Jan
SUBJECT:
Documents on Busing
Here are the basic documents on busing:
A.
Draft of the proposed message to
Congress (Tab A). It has been
reviewed by most, but not all, of
your senior advisers.
B.
Your bill (Tab B). It has been
cleared by the Attorney General,
the Secretary of HEW, the Counsel's
Office, (Schmults), and the Domestic
Council.
C.
Section-by-section analysis of the
bill (Tab C). It has also been
cleared.
SIXTH DRAFT
June 23, 1976
7:00 p.m.
A MESSAGE TO THE CONGRESS
FORD CIBRARY
I address this message to the Congress, and through
the Congress to all Americans, on an issue of profound
importance to our domestic tranquility and the future
of American education.
Most Americans know this issue as busing -- the
use of busing to carry out court-ordered assignment of
students to correct illegal segregation in our schools.
The heart of this issue is how we protect the
civil rights of all Americans without unduly restricting
the individual freedom of any American.
It concerns the responsibility of government to
provide quality education, and equality of education, to
every American.
We must, as swiftly as humanly possible, eliminate
the occasions of controversy and division from the ful-
fillment of this responsibility.
At the outset, let me set forth certain principles
governing my judgments and my actions.
First, for all of my life I have held strong
personal feelings against racial discrimination. I do
not believe in a segregated society. We are a people of
2
diverse background, origins and interests; but we are
still one people -- Americans -- and so must we live.
Second, it is the duty of every President to
enforce the law of the land. When I became President,
I took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the
Constitution of the United States. There must be no
misunderstanding about this: I will uphold the Con-
stitutional rights of every individual in the country.
I will carry out the decisions of the Supreme Court. I
will not tolerate defiance of the law.
Third, I am totally dedicated to quality education
in America -- and to the principle that public education
is predominantly the concern of the community in which
people live. Throughout the history of our Nation, the
education of our children, especially at the elementary
and secondary levels, has been a community endeavor.
The concept of public education is now written into our
history as deeply as any tenet of American belief.
In recent years, we have seen many communities
in the country lose control of their public schools to
the Federal courts because they failed to voluntarily
correct the effects of willful and official denial of the
rights of some children in their schools.
FORD
3
It is my belief that in their earnest desire to
carry out the decisions of the Supreme Court, some
judges of lower Federal Courts have gone too far. They
have:
--
resorted too quickly to the remedy of
massive busing of public school children;
--
extended busing too broadly; and
--
maintained control of schools for too
long.
After serious examination and reflection, I have
concluded that in many instances, judicial remedies have
exceeded the judicially-identified violations.
It is this overextension of court control that
has transformed a simple judicial tool, busing, into
a cause of widespread controversy and slowed our progress
toward the total elimination of segregation.
As a President is responsible for acting to enforce
the Nation's laws, so is he also responsible for acting
when society begins to question the end results of those
laws.
I therefore ask the Congress, as the elected
representatives of the American people, to join with
me in establishing guidelines for the lower Federal Courts
in the desegregation of public schools throughout the
FORD
4
land -- acting within the broad framework of the
Constitution and particularly the Fourteenth Amendment
to the Constitution.
It is both appropriate and Constitutional for
the Congress to define by law the remedies the lower
Federal Courts may decree.
It is both appropriate and Constitutional for
the Congress to prescribe standards and procedures for
accommodating competing interests and rights.
Both the advocates of more busing and the advocates
of less busing feel they hold a strong moral position on
this issue.
To many Americans who have been in the long
struggle for civil rights, busing appears to be the only
way to provide the equal educational opportunity so long
and so tragically denied them.
To many other Americans who have struggled much
of their lives and invested most of their energies in
seeking the best for their children, busing appears to
be a denial of individual freedom to choose the best
school for their children to attend.
The actual record is mixed. Whether busing helps
school children get a better education is not a settled
question. Certainly, busing has assisted in bringing
5
about the desegregation of our schools But it is a
tragic reality that, in some areas, busing under court
order has brought fear to both black students and
white students -- and to their parents.
No child can learn in an atmosphere of fear.
Better remedies to right Constitutional wrongs must be
found.
It is my responsibility, and the responsibility
of the Congress, to address and to seek to resolve this
situation.
In the twenty-two years since the Supreme Court
ordered an end to school segregation, this country has
made great progress. Yet we still have far to go.
To maintain progress toward the orderly elimination
of illegal segregation in our public schools, and to pre-
serve -- or, where appropriate, restore -- community
control of schools, I am proposing legislation to:
1.
Require that a court in a desegregation case
determine the extent to which acts of
unlawful discrimination have caused a
greater degree of racial concentration in
a school or school system than would have
existed in the absence of such acts;
6
2.
Require that busing and other remedies in
school desegregation cases be limited to
eliminating the degree of student racial
concentration caused by proven unlawful
acts of discrimination;
3.
Require that the utilization of court-
ordered busing as a remedy be limited to
a specific period of time consistent with
the legislation's intent that it be an
interim and transitional remedy. In general,
this period of time will be no longer than
five years where there has been compliance
with the court order.
4.
Create an independent National Community
and Education Committee to help any school
community requesting citizen assistance in
voluntarily resolving its school segregation
problem.
Almost without exception, the citizens' groups
both for and against busing with which I have consulted
told me that the proposed National Community and Education
Committee could be a positive addition to the resources
currently available to communities which face up to the
issue honestly, voluntarily and in the best spirit of
American democracy.
7
This citizens' commission would be made up
primarily of men and women who have had community
experience in school desegregation activities.
It would remain distinct and separate from
enforcement activities of the Federal Courts, the Justice
Department and the Department of Health, Education and
Welfare.
It is my hope that the Committee could activate
and energize effective local leadership at an early stage:
--
To reduce the disruption that would
otherwise accompany the desegregation
process; and
--
To provide additional assistance to
communities in anticipating and resolving
difficulties prior to and during desegrega-
tion.
While I personally believe that every community
should effectively desegregate on a voluntary basis, I
recognize that some court action is inevitable.
In those cases where Federal court actions are
initiated, however, I believe that busing as a remedy
ought to be the last resort, and that it ought to be
limited in scope to correcting the effects of previous
Constitutional violations.
FORD
8
The goal of the judicial remedy in a school
desegregation case ought to be to put the school system,
and its students, where they would have been if the acts
which violate the Constitution had never occurred.
The goal should be to eliminate "root and branch"
the Constitutional violations and all of their present
effects. This is the Constitutional test which the
Supreme Court has mandated -- nothing more, nothing less.
Therefore, my bill would establish for Federal
courts specific guidelines concerning the use of busing
in school desegregation cases. It would require the
court to determine the extent to which acts of unlawful
discrimination by governmental officials have caused a
greater degree of racial concentration in a school or
school system than would have existed in the absence of
such acts. It would further require the court to limit
the relief to that necessary to correct the racial imbalance
actually caused by those unlawful acts. This would pro-
hibit a court from ordering busing throughout an entire
school system simply for the purpose of achieving racial
balance.
In addition, my bill recognizes that the busing
remedy is transitional by its very nature and that when
a community makes good faith efforts to comply, busing
9
ought to be limited in duration. Therefore, the bill
provides that three years after the busing remedy has
been imposed a court shall be required to determine
whether to continue the remedy. Should the court deter-
mine that a continuation is necessary, it could do SO
only for an additional two years. Thereafter, the court
could continue busing only in the most extraordinary
circumstances, where there has been a failure or delay
of other remedial efforts or in cases where the effects
of unlawful discrimination are unusually severe.
Great concern has been expressed that submission
of these bills at this time would encourage those who are
resisting court-ordered desegregation -- sometimes to the
point of violence.
Let me here state, simply and directly, that this
Administration will not tolerate unlawful segregation.
We will act swiftly and effectively against anyone
who engages in violence.
I assure the people of this Nation that this
Administration will do whatever it must to preserve order
and to protect the Constitutional rights of our citizens.
The purpose of submitting this legislation now
is to place the debate on this controversial issue in the
halls of Congress and in the democratic process -- not in
the streets of our cities.
10
The strength of America has always been our
ability to deal with our own problems in a responsible
and orderly way.
We can do so again if every American will join
with me in affirming our historic commitment to a Nation
of laws, a people of equality, a society of opportunity.
I call on the Congress to write into law a new
perspective which sees court-ordered busing as a tool
to be used with the highest selectivity and the utmost
precision.
I call on the leaders of all the Nation's school
districts which may yet face court orders to move volun-
tarily, promptly, objectively and compassionately to
desegregate their schools.
We must eliminate discrimination in America.
We must summon the best in ourselves to the cause
of achieving the highest possible quality of education
for each and every American child.
A BILL
To establish procedures and standards for the framing of
relief in suits to desegregate the Nation's elementary
and secondary public schools, to provide for assistance
to voluntary desegregation efforts, to establish a
National Community and Education Committee to provide
assistance to encourage and facilitate constructive and
comprehensive community involvement and planning in the
desegregation of schools, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That
this Act may be cited as the "School Desegregation Standards
and Assistance Act of 1976."
Statement of Findings
The Congress finds that:
(a) Discrimination against students, because of their
race, color, or national origin, in the operation of the
Nation's public schools violates the Constitution and laws
of the United States, denies such students equal educational
opportunities, and is contrary to the Nation's highest
principles and goals.
(b) The Constitution and the national interest mandate
that the courts of the United States provide appropriate
relief to prevent such unlawful discrimination and to remove
2
the continuing deprivations, including the separation of
students, because of their race, color or national origin,
within or among schools, that such discrimination has caused.
(c) Individuals may, in normal course, choose to reside
in certain areas for many reasons and, as the courts have
recognized, patterns of concentration, by race, color, or
national origin, in the schools that reflect such voluntary,
individual choices, rather than the results of unlawful
discrimination, neither necessarily render such schools
inferior in the quality of education they provide nor in
themselves deprive any person of equal protection of the laws.
(d) The purpose of relief directed to the effects of
unlawful discrimination in the operation of the schools is
not to compel a uniform balance by race, color, or national
origin that would not have existed in normal course from
individual voluntary acts, but is, rather, to restore the
victims of discriminatory conduct to the position they would
have occupied in the absence of such conduct, and so to free
society and our citizens from the conditions created by
unlawful acts.
(e) Although it has been found necessary in some cases,
in order to remedy the effects attributable to unlawful
discrimination, to require the assignment and transportation
of students to schools distant from their homes, and although
3
such a requirement may be appropriate, as a last resort, to
eliminate the effects of unlawful acts that were intended to
foster segregation in the schools, such a requirement can, if
unduly extensive in scope and duration, impost serious burdens
on the children affected and on the resources of school
systems and impair the quality of education for all students
that is essential to overcome past discrimination, to achieve
true equality of opportunity and equal protection of the laws,
and to maintain a free and open society.
(f) Because of its detrimental effects, judicially
required student assignment and transportation should be
employed only when necessary as an interim and transitional
remedy, and not as a permanent, judicially mandated feature
of any school system.
(g) In view of these conflicting values and consequences,
Congress, being responsible for defining by law the jurisdiction
of the inferior Federal courts and the remedies they may award
in the exercise of the jurisdiction thus conferred and for
enacting appropriate legislation to enforce the commands of
the Fourteenth Amendment, may prescribe standards and
procedures for accommodating the competing human interests
involved.
(h) Throughout the history of our Nation, the education
of our children, especially at the elementary and secondary
FORD
4
level, has been a community endeavor. The concept of public
- education begain in the community and continuous support for
public schools has been provided by the community.
(i) Although the States, and to some extent the Federal
government, have been providing increased financial assistance
for education, it has become clear that the solution to many
of the most pressing problems facing our schools lies within
the community which supports those schools.
(j) Too often required changes in the assignment of
students to schools has been accomplished without the
involvement of the community or with its involvement only
after confrontations have occurred and community positions
have been hardened.
(k) In other cases individuals from within the
community have anticipated the problems associated with
desegregation and have organized to face and resolve those
-
problems. Rather than reacting negatively to the circumstances,
in which the community found itself, these individuals have
found constructive-means to contribute to improving strained
community relations, to adjust to changing conditions, and
in other ways to assure the continued successful operation
of the public schools.
(1) These individuals, who have experience the trials
a community may face when the schools must be desegregated
5
and who have found ways to overcome those problems, are a
unique national resource that can be of assistance to other
communities that are now facing or have yet to face these
trials.
6
Title I. Standards and Procedures in School Desegregation Suits
Sec. 101. Purpose: Application.
(a) The purpose of this Title is to prescribe standards
and procedures to govern the award of injunctive and other
equitable relief in school desegregation cases brought under
Federal law, in order (1) to prevent the continuation or
future commission of any acts of unlawful discrimination in
public schools, and (2) to remedy the effects of past acts
of such unlawful discrimination, including, by such means as
are appropriate for the purpose, the present degree of
concentration by race, color or national origin in the student
population of the schools attributable to such acts.
(b) The provisions of this Title shall govern all
proceedings for the award or modification of injunctive and
other equitable relief, after the date of its enactment,
seeking the desegregation of public schools under Federal
law, but shall not govern proceedings seeking a reduction of
such relief awarded prior to the date of its enactment except
for proceedings brought under Section 107.
Sec. 102. Definitions.
For purposes of this Title:
(a) "local education agency" means a local board of
public education or any other government agency or officer
7
of a political subdivision of a State responsible for, or
exercising control over, the operations of one or more public
elementary or secondary schools.
(b) "State education agency" means a State board of
public education or any other State agency or officer
responsible for, or exercising control over, the operations
of one or more public elementary or secondary schools.
- (c) "School system" means the schools and other
institutions of public education within the jurisdiction of
a local or State education agency.
(d) "desegregation" means the prohibition of unlawful
discrimination and the elimination of the effects of such
discrimination in the operation of the schools.
(e) "unlawful discrimination" means action by a local
or State education agency or by any other governmental body,
agency, or officer which, in violation of Federal law,
discriminates against students on the basis of race, color
or national origin in the operation of the schools.
(f) "State" means any of the States of the Union, the
District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam,
American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and the Panama Canal Zone.
(g) "transportation of students" means the assignment
of students to public schools in such a manner as to require,
directly or indirectly, the transportation of students, in
FORD
8
- order to alter the distribution of students, by race, color,
or national origin, among the schools, but does not include
the assignment of any student to the school nearest or next
nearest his or her residence and serving the grade he or she
is attending, even if the local or State education agency
provides transportation to enable the student to reach that
school.
Sec. 103. Liability.
A local or State education agency shall be held subject
(a) to relief under Section 104 of this Title if the
court finds that such local or State education agency has
engaged or is engaging in an act or acts of unlawful
discrimination; and
(b) to relief under Section 105 of this Title if the
court finds that an act or acts of unlawful discrimination
have caused a greater present degree of concentration, by
race, color, or national origin, in the student population
of any school within the jurisdiction of the local or State
education agency than would have existed in normal course had
no such act occurred; provided:
(i) that no order under Section 105 of this Title
shall be based in whole or in part on an act or acts by
a local, State or Federal agency or officer other than
9
the local or State education agency with jurisdiction
over such schools unless the court further finds, on
the basis of evidence other than the effects of such
acts alone, that the act or acts were committed for
the specific purpose of maintaining, increasing, or
controlling the degree of concentration, by race, color,
or national origin, in the student population of the
schools; and
(ii) that nothing in this Title shall be construed
as establishing a basis for relief against a local or
State education agency not available under existing law.
Sec. 104. Relief - Orders prohibiting unlawful acts
and eliminating effects generally.
In all cases in which, pursuant to Section 103 (a) of
this Title, the court finds that a local or State education
agency has engaged or is engaging in an act or acts of unlawful
discrimination, the court may enter an order enjoining the
continuation of future commission of any such act or acts and
providing any other relief against such local or State
education agency as may be necessary and appropriate to
prevent such act or acts from occurring or to eliminate the
effects of such act or acts; provided, that any remedy
directed to eliminating the effects of such act or acts on
the present degree of concentration, by race, color or
10
national origin, in the student population of any school
shall be ordered in conformity with Section 105 of this
Title.
Sec. 105. Relief - Orders eliminating the present effects
of unlawful acts on concentrations of students.
(a) In all cases in which, pursuant to Section 103 (b)
of this title the court finds that an act or acts of unlawful
discrimination have caused a greater present degree of
concentration, by race, color or national origin, than would
otherwise have existed in normal course in the student
population of any schools within the jurisdiction of a local
or State education agency, the court may order against such
agency any appropriate relief to remedy the effects reasonably
attributable to such acts; accordingly such relief shall be no
more extensive than that reasonably necessary to adjust the
composition by race, color or national origin of the particular
schools so affected or, if that is not feasible, the overall
pattern of student concentration by race, color or national
origin in the school system so affected substantially to what
it would have been in normal course, as determined pursuant
to this Section, had no such act or acts occurred.
(b) Before entering an order under this Section the
court shall conduct a hearing and, on the basis of such
hearing, shall make specific findings concerning the degree
11
to which the concentration, by race, color or national origin,
in the student population of particular schools affected by
unlawful acts of discrimination presently varies from what
it would have been in normal course had no such acts occurred.
If such findings as to particular schools are not feasible,
or if for some other reason relief cannot feasibly be fashioned
to apply only to the particular schools that were affected,
the court shall make specific findings concerning the degree
to which the overall pattern of student concentration, by
race, color or national origin, in the school system affected
by such acts or unlawful discrimination presently varies from
what it would have been in normal course had no such acts
occurred.
(c) In any hearing conducted pursuant to subsection (b)
of this Section the local or State education agency shall have
the burden of going foward, by the introduction of evidence
concerning the degree to which the concentration, by race,
color or national origin, in the student population of
particular schools, or the overall pattern of student
concentration by race, color, or national origin in the
school system, is reasonably attributable to factors other
than the act or acts of unlawful discrimination found pursuant
to Section 103 (b) of this Title. If such evidence is intro-
duced, the findings required by subsection (b) of this
12
Section shall be based on conclusions and reasonable
inferences from all of the evidence before the court, and
shall not be based on a presumption, drawn from the finding
of liability made pursuant to Section 103 (b) of this Title
or otherwise, that the concentration, by race, color or
national origin, in the student population of any particular
school or the overall pattern of concentration in the school
system as a whole is the result of acts of unlawful
discrimination.
(d) If any order entered under this Section against a
local or State education agency is based, in whole or in part,
on an act or acts of unlawful discrimination by a local,
State or Federal agency or official other than the local or
State education agency, the court shall state separately in
its findings the extent to which the effects found and the
relief ordered pursuant to the requirements of this Section
are based on such act or acts.
(e) In all orders entered under this Section the court
may, without regard to the other requirements of this Section,
(1) approve any plan of desegregation, otherwise lawful, that
a local or State education agency voluntarily adopts, and
(2) direct a local or State education agency to institute a
program of voluntary transfers of students from schools in
which students of their race, color, or national origin are
13
in the majority to schools in which students of their race,
color or national origin are in the minority.
Sec. 106. Voluntary action; local control.
All orders entered under Section 105 of this Title shall
rely, to the greatest extent practicable and consistent with
effective relief, on the voluntary action of school officials,
teachers and students, and the court shall not remove from a
local or State education agency its power and responsibility
to control the operations of the schools except to the minimum
extent necessary to prevent unlawful discrimination by such
agency or to eliminate the present effects of acts of unlawful
discrimination.
Sec. 107. Review of orders.
(a) In all cases in which a court-imposed requirement
for transportation of students has remained in effect for a
period of three years from the date of entry of the order
containing such requirement or, in the case of all final
orders entered prior to enactment of this Title, from the
effective date of this Title, the court shall, on motion of
any party, terminate the requirement unless:
(i) the court finds that the local or State
education agency has failed to comply with the
requirement and other provisions of the court's order
14
substantially and in good faith throughout the three
preceding years, in which case the court may extend the
requirement until there have been three consecutive
years of such compliance; or
(ii) the court finds, at the expiration of such
period and of any extension under (i) above, that the
other provisions of its order and other remedies are
not adequate to correct the effects of unlawful
discrimination, determined in accordance with Section
105 of this Title, and that the requirement remains
necessary for that purpose, in which case the court may
continue the requirement in effect, with or without
modification, until the local or State education agency
has complied with the requirement substantially and in
good faith for two consecutive additional years; and
thereafter, in extraordinary circumstances resulting
from failure or delay of other remedial efforts in cases
of unusually severe residual effects of unlawful acts,
the court may-continue the requirement in effect, as a
transitional means of last resort, to such extent and
for such limited periods as the court finds essential
to allow other remedies to become effective.
(b) If a court-imposed requirement for transportation
of students has terminated and thereafter the court finds --
15
(i) that the local or State education agency,
subsequent to the termination, has failed to comply
substantially and in good faith with other provisions
of the court's order; or
(ii) that an act or acts of unlawful discrimination,
as defined in Section 103 (b), have occurred since the
termination and have caused a greater present degree of
concentration, by race, color, or national origin, than
would otherwise have existed in normal course;
the court may, if no other remedy is sufficient, require
assignment and transportation of students to such extent and
for such limited period as may be necessary to remedy the
effects found, pursuant to Section 105 of this Title, to be
reasonably attributable to such failure or to such act or
acts, and any such requirement shall be reviewed and subject
to termination as provided in subsection (a) of this Section.
Sec. 108. Effect of subsequent shifts in population.
Whenever any order governed by Section 105 of this
Title has been entered, and thereafter residential shifts
in population occur which result in changes in student
distribution, by race, color or national origin, in any
school affected by such order, the court shall not require
modification of student assignment plans then in effect in
16
order to reflect such changes, unless the court finds,
pursuant to Section 105 that such changes result from an
act of acts of unlawful discrimination.
Sec. 109. Intervention.
(a) The court shall notify the Attorney General of
any proceeding to which the United States is not a party in
which the relief sought includes that covered by Section 105
of this Title, and shall in addition advise the Attorney
General whenever it believes that an order or an extension
of an order requiring transportation of students may be
necessary.
(b) The Attorney General may, in his discretion,
intervene as a party in such proceeding on behalf of the
United States, or appear in such proceeding for such special
purpose as he may deem necessary and appropriate to facilitate
enforcement of this Title, including the submission of
recommendations (1) for the appointment of a mediator to
assist the court, the parties, and the affected community,
and (2) for the formation of a committee of community leaders
to develop, for the court's consideration in framing any order
under Section 105 of this Title, a five-year desegregation
plan, including such elements as relocation of schools, with
specific dates and goals, which would enable required
17
transportation of students to be avoided or minimized
during such five-year period and to be terminated at the
end thereof.
Sec. 110. If any provision of this Title, of the application
of any such provision to any person or circumstance, is held
invalid, the remainder of the provisions of this Title and
the application of such provision to any other person or
circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
18
Title II. National Community and Education Committee
Sec. 201. Purpose.
It is the purpose of this Title to create a nonpartisan
National committee composed of citizens from various
occupations and backgrounds, particularly individuals who
have had experience in school desegregation activities from
within a community, in order to provide assistance to
communities that are engaged in or preparing to engage in
the desegregation of their schools. With such assistance,
it is expected that effective local leadership can be developed
at an early stage of the desegregation process in order to
facilitate that process, to assure that the educational
advantages of desegregated education are fully realized,
and to reduce or avoid public misunderstanding and disorder.
The Committee will be a resource available to assist communities
in anticipating and resolving difficulties encountered prior
to and during desegregation. It is the intent of Congress
that the Committee be composed of individuals who have
demonstrated their concern for avoiding conflict and disruption
in their communities during the desegregation of schools and
who, without regard for their personal opinion with respect
to such desegregation, have been involved in efforts within
their communities to adjust to changing circumstances while
19
ensuring the continued successful operation of the public
schools.
Sec. 202. Establishment of the Committee.
(a) Establishment. There is established in the Executive
Branch of the Federal government a National Community and
Education Committee (hereinafter referred to as the "Committee. ")
(b) Members. The Committee shall be composed of not
fewer than fifty nor more than one hundre members, ten of
whom shall be appointed by the President and shall comprise
the executive council of the Committee, and the remainder
of whom shall be appointed by the executive council. All the
members of the Committee shall be selected from among
individuals previously involved within a community in
activities related to the desegregation of schools. Members
of the Committee shall be selected on the basis of their
knowledge and experience in community matters, their ability
to provide constructive assistance in preparing a community
for the desegregation of its schools, and their ability to
contribute in other ways to carrying out the functions of the
Committee. Selection of members of the Committee shall be on
a nonpartisan basis, and no more than one half of the members
of the Committee at any one time shall be members of the same
political party.
20
(c) Chairman and Vice Chairman. The President shall
designate one of the members of the executive council as
Chairman of the Committee and one member as Vice Chairman.
The Vice Chairman shall act as Chairman in the absence or
disability of the Chairman, or in the event of a vacancy
in that office, and shall carry out such other duties as the
Chairman or the executive council may direct. The terms of
office of the Chairman and the Vice Chairman shall not exceed
three years.
(d) Executive Council. The executive council of the
Committee shall (1) establish general operating policies
for the Committee, (2) approve all grants made pursuant to
Section 204 of this Title, (3) appoint, for terms of from
one to three years, not fewer than forty nor more than ninety
individuals to be members of the Committee, and (4) carry
out such other duties as the Chairman may direct. The term
of office of members of the executive council shall be three
years, except that of the members first appointed to the
executive council (other than the Chairman and Vice Chairman)
three shall serve for a term of one year, three for a term
of two years, and two for a term of three years.
(e) Compensation of Members. Each member of the
Committee shall be compensated in an amount not to exceed
that paid at level IV of the Federal Executive Salary
21
Schedule, pursuant to Section 5313 of Title 5, United States
Code, prorated on a daily basis for each day spent on the
work of the Committee, including travel time. In addition,
each member shall be allowed travel expenses, including per
diem in lieu of subsistence, as authorized by Section 5703
of Title 5, United States Code, for persons employed
intermittently in the Government Service.
(f) Operation of the Committee; Staff. The functions
of the Committee shall, to the greatest extent possible, be
carried out by the members of the Committee. The Chairman
of the Committee is authorized to appoint, without regard
to the provisions of Title 5, United States Code, governing
appointments in the competitive service, or otherwise obtain
the services of such professional, technical, and clerical
personnel, including consultants, as may be necessary to -
(i) identify, document, and disseminate information
concerning successful community efforts relating to
desegregation;
(ii) coordinate and expedite the availability of
Federal assistance in support of community efforts
relating to desegregation; and
(iii) otherwise enable the Committee to carry out
its functions.
22
Such personnel shall be compensated at rates not to exceed
that specified at the time such service is performed for
grade GS-18 in Section 5332 of Title 5, United States Code.
The full-time staff of the Committee shall not exceed thirty
individuals at any time.
Sec. 203. Functions of the Committee.
The functions of the Committee shall include, but shall
not be limited to --
(1) consulting with leaders in the community and local
groups in determining means by which such leaders and groups
can, through early involvement in the development of, and
preparation for, school desegregation plans, contribute to
the desegregation process in such a way as to avoid conflicts
and recourse to judicial procedures.
(2) encouraging the formation of broadly based local
community organizations to develop programs designed to
encourage comprehensive community planning for the desegregation
of schools;
(3) providing advice and technical assistance to
communities in preparing for and carrying out comprehensive
plans to desegregate the schools;
(4) consulting with the Community Relations Service
of the Department of Justice (established under Title X
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964), the Office of Civil Rights
23
in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, the
National Institute of Education, Office of Education,
General Assistance Centers (funded under Title IV of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964), the Civil Rights Commission,
and State and local human relations agencies to determine
how those organizations can contribute to the resolution of
problems arising in the desegregation of schools within a
community; and
(5) providing informal conciliation services for
individuals, groups, and agencies within a community in
order to resolve conflicts, reduce tensions, and develop
acceptable means of desegregating schools without resort
to administrative and judicial processes.
Sec. 204. Community grants.
(a) The Chairman of the Committee is authorized, upon
receipt of an application in such form as he may prescribe
and upon the approval of the executive council of the
Committee, to make grants to private nonprofit community
organizations in order to assist them in the initial stages
of carrying out activities designed to accomplish the
purposes of this Title.
(b) Grants made pursuant to this Section shall be in
such amounts, not to exceed $30,000, as the executive council
of the Committee deems necessary to assist in the establishment
24
and early development of eligible community organizations.
No organization may receive a grant under this Section for
more than one year of operation.
(c) In determining whether to approve a grant to a
community organization under this Title, the executive council
of the Committee shall require an applicant to demonstrate
that the organization has reasonable promise of making
substantial progress toward achieving the purposes of this
Title. Such demonstration shall include a showing of adequate
financial or other support from the community.
(d) The executive council of the Committee shall not
make a grant to two or more organizations within a community
unless it determines that the activities of such organizations
are sufficiently coordinated to ensure that their activities
are not duplicative or inconsistent.
Sec. 205. Limitations on activities of the Committee.
It shall not be the function of the Committee --
(1) to prepare desegregation plans;
(2) to provide mediation services under the order of
a court of the United States or of a State;
(3) to investigate or take any action with respect to
allegations of violation of law; or
25
(4) to participate in any capacity, or to assist any
party, in administrative or judicial proceedings under
Federal or State law seeking desegregation of schools.
Sec. 206. Cooperation by other departments and agencies.
(a) All executive departments and agencies of the
United States are directed to cooperate with the Committee
and furnish to it such information, personnel and other
assistance as may be appropriate to assist the Committee in
the performance of its functions and as may be authorized
by law.
(b) In administering programs designed to assist local
educational agencies and communities in planning for an
carrying out the desegregation of schools, the Attorney
General, the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare,
and the heads of the agencies within that Department shall
administer such programs, to the extent permitted by law,
in a manner that will further the activities of the Committee.
Sec. 207. Confidentiality.
The activities of the members and employees of the
Committee in carrying out the purposes of this Act may be
conducted in confidence; and the Committee shall not disclose
or be compelled to disclose, pursuant to judicial process or
otherwise, any information acquired in the regular performance
FORD LIBRARY
26
of its duties if such information was provided to the
Committee that it would be so held.
Sec. 208. Authorization of Appropriations.
(a) There are authorized to be appropriated $2,000,000
for salaries and expenses of the Committee for the fiscal
year ending September 30, 1977, and for each of the two
succeeding fiscal years.
(b) For the purpose of making grants under Section 204,
there are authorized to be appropriated to the Committee
$2,000,000 for the fiscal year ending September 30, 1977,
and for each of the two succeeding fiscal years.
Sec. 209. Federal Community Assistance Coordinating Council
Sec. (a) There is created in the Federal government a
Federal Community Assistance Coordinating Council (hereinafter
the "Council") which shall be composed of a representative
or representatives of each of the following departments or
agencies:
(1) the Community Services Administration;
(2) the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare;
(3) the Department of Housing and Urban Development;
(4) the Department of the Interior;
(5) the Department of Justice; and
(6) the Department of Labor.
27
The President may designate such other departments or agencies
to be represented on the Council as he deems appropriate to
carry out the functions of the Council.
The representative or representatives of each such
department or agency shall be appointed by the head of the
department or agency from among individuals employed by that
department or agency who are familiar with, and experienced
in the operation of, the programs and activities of that
department or agency which are available to provide assistance
for community relations projects, education programs, and
other community-based efforts which would help to reduce or
eliminate the misunderstanding and disorder that could be
associated with school desegreation. The head of each such
department or agency shall appoint sufficient representatives
to the Council to ensure that an individual with a working
knowledge of each such program or activity in that department
or agency is on the Council.
(b) It shall be the function of the Council to meet
or consult with representatives to communities who are
seeking Federal support for community relations projects,
educational programs, and other community-based efforts to
facilitate desegregation, in order to assist such communities
in (1) designing projects or activities that demonstrate
promise or assisting in those efforts, (2) determining which
28
Federal programs are available for such activities, and
(3) completing the necessary applications and other
prerequisites for appropriate Federal assistance.
(c) To the extent consistent with the law authorizing
any such Federal assistance program, each department or
agency listed in subsection (a) of this section shall
administer such program in a manner which will support the
activities of the Council. Each such department or agency
shall from time to time provide to the Council such additional
personnel or other assistance as may be necessary to carry
out the functions of the Council.
(d) There are authorized to be appropriated for the
purpose of carrying out the duties and functions of the
Council under this Section $250,000 for the fiscal year
ending September 30, 1977 and for each of the two succeeding
fiscal years.
Section-by-Section Analysis of the "School Desegregation
Standards and Assistance Act of 1976"
Title I. Standards and Procedures in School
Desegregation Suits
Sec. 101. Purpose; Application
(a) Title I prescribes standards and procedures
to govern the award of equitable relief in school de-
segregation suits; that is, suits seeking the elimination
of discrimination, on the basis of race, color or national
2/
origin, against students in public schools.
The bill
applies to any such suit which is based upon Federal law.
Where a lawsuit seeks relief with respect to faculty and
staff, as well as students, the bill applies to the extent
1
that the suit relates to students.
The purpose of Title I's provisions is to assure
that such relief (1) prevents the occurrence of unlawful
discrimination against students in the operation of public
schools and (2) remedies, by appropriate means, the effects
of such discrimination.
1/ The award of declaratory judgments, as well as in-
junctive and other equitable relief, is within the Title's
coverage.
2/ "Desegregation" and other pertinent terms are defines
in Sec. 102.
(b) Title I applies to all school desegregation
suits based upon Federal law in which relief is awarded
after the Act's enactment. The Title thus would apply to
the award of additional relief in cases in which there is an
existing court-ordered remedy. The Title would not apply,
however, to motions to reduce or terminate existing orders
unless the motion was made after the times set out in
Sec. 107. If the motion is made before Sec. 107 applies,
it would be governed by existing law rather than by Sec. 107's
standards.
Sec. 102. Definitions
Subsections 102 (a), (b), (c) and (f), which
define respectively "local education agency," "State education
agency," "school system" and "State," are self-explanatory.
The definitions of "desegregation" (subsection 102 (d) )
and "unlawful discrimination" (subsection 102 (e)) reflect
the purpose of the Title, i.e., regulating the award of relief
to remedy discrimination against students in the operation of
public schools. Thus, within the meaning of the Title,
"unlawful discrimination" is
action by a local or State education agency
or by any other governmental
agency
which, in violation of Federal law,
discriminates against students on the basis
of race, color or national origin in the
operation of the schools.
This definition is intended to incorporate the standards of
the Constitution and of Federal civil rights laws.
2
Under Title I, a "desegregation" suit is one seeking
(1) the prohibition of "unlawful discrimination" and (2) the
elimination of the effects of such discrimination in the
operation of public schools.
Subsection 102 (g) provides that "transportation of
students" means "the assignment of students
in such a
manner as to require, directly or indirectly, the trans-
portation of students, in order to alter the distribution
of students, by race, color, or national origin, among the
schools
"
An indirect requirement of such transportation
would exist, for example, when the assignments were such that
it was no longer feasible for certain students to walk to
school. Assignment of a student, however, to a school that
serves the student's grade level and is nearest or next
nearest the student's residence is not covered by the
definition, even if the assignment results in transportation
of the student to the school.
Sec. 103. Liability.
Sec. 103 establishes the basic scheme for relief
under Title I against local or State education agencies. It
provides, in subsection (a), that relief of the type described
in Sec. 102 will be available whenever the court finds that a
local or State education agency "has engaged or is engaged
in
unlawful discrimination.' II
Subsection 103 (b) provides that the relief of Sec. 105
will be available when the court finds that "unlawful
3
discrimination" resulted in an increased present degree
of concentration, by race, color or national origin, in
the student population of any school. In other words, a
finding of unlawful discrimination which consisted only
of assigning students to classes, within a school, on the
basis of race and which had no effect upon other schools,
would subject the defendant to relief under Sec. 104,
whereas a finding of unlawful discrimination in the drawing
of school boundaries, so as to establish one white school
and one black school, would subject the defendant to relief
under Sec. 105 as well.
The proviso of subsection 103 (b) deals with the
matter of relief, under Sec. 102, against a local or State
education agency where all or some of the effects that the
relief is intended to remedy were caused by the conduct of
other governmental agencies or officers. Paragraph
103 (b) (i) states that:
no order under Sec. 102
shall be
based in whole or in part on an act or acts
by a local, State or Federal agency or officer
other than the local or State education agency
with jurisdiction over
[the schools in
question] unless the court further finds, on
the basis of evidence other than the effects
of such acts alone, that the act or acts
were committed for the specific purpose of
maintaining, increasing, or controlling the
degree of concentration, by race, color, or
national origin, in the student population
of the schools
In other words, no order to remedy increased concentration,
by race, color, or national origin, in the student population
4
of any school may be based, wholly or partly, on the
conduct of a local, State or Federal agency other than
an education agency unless the court finds that the
specific purpose of such conduct was to maintain, increase
or control the degree of such concentration in student
population. Paragraph 103 (b) (8) states that such a
finding concerning specific purpose must be based upon
evidence "other than the effects of
[the conduct on
the part of the other agency] alone. " Thus, while
evidence concerning the effects of the non-school agency's
conduct
-
5
is relevant, such evidence by itself is not sufficient to
establish the requisite specific purpose. Other evidence
regarding purpose must be provided.
The second part of the proviso, paragraph 103 (b) (ii),
states that nothing in Title I is to be construed as
establishing a basis for relief against a local or State
education agency where such relef is not available on the
basis of existing law (i.e., other law existing at the time
of the particular lawsuit). If Federal law authorizes relief
against school authorities on the basis of discrimination by
some other government agency, then the proviso OS subsection 103 (b)
governs the award.
Sec. 104 Relief - Orders prohibiting unlawful acts and
eliminating effects generally
This section relates to the award of relief generally
to prevent acts of unlawful discrimination by local or State
education agencies and to eliminate the effects of such acts.
As stated in the proviso, however, sec. 105 is the sec.
applicable to the award of any remedy to eliminate the effects
of such discrimination on the present degree of concentration,
by race, color or national origin, in student population.
Thus, sec. 104 applies to the prevention of all acts of school
discrimination and to the elimination of all effects except
the effect of concentration, by race, color or national origin,
in student population.
Sec. 104 provides that the court may (1) enjoin the
continuation or future commission of such discriminatory
conduct and (2) provide other relief needed to prevent the
6
occurrence of the discriminatory acts or to eliminate their
present effects, other than effects upon the composition,
by race or national origin, of student bodies.
Sec. 105 Relief - Orders eliminating the present effects
of unlawful acts on concentrations of students
(a) This sec. becomes applicable when, pursuant
to subsection 103 (b), the court finds that unlawful discrimina-
tion has caused a greater present degree of concentration,
by race, color or national origin, than would otherwise have
existed in the student population of any of an education
agency's schools. (See the discussion of subsection 103 (b) )
With regard to such discrimination, the court may order against
such agency "any appropriate relief to remedy the effects
reasonably attributable to such acts." Under subsection 105 (a),
the court may order such relief - but only such relief -- as
is reasonably necessary to create substantially the same
kind of distribution of students, by race, color or national
origin, that would have existed had no such discrimination
occurred. If feasible, the court's order is to be based
upon findings regarding, and is to relate to, the particular
schools affected by the discrimination. For example, if the
discrimination consisted of artificial alteration of the
boundaries between two schools, which affected and now affects
the student population of only those two schools, the relief
is to relate only to those schools and is to seek only re-
creation of the situation which would now exist had the boundaries
been established in a non-discriminatory fashion. In deter-
mining what situation would now exist, the court would, of
-7-
course, take into account shifts in population which have
occurred since the alteration of boundaries -- including, but
not limited to, such shifts as were the identifiable effect
of that unlawful act.
In some cases, it may be impossible to isolate the
effects of a discriminatory act upon particular schools,
or to use only those schools in re-creating the situation,
insofar as concentration of students by race, color, or
national origin is concerned, which would now exist within
the district absent the discriminatory acts. For example,
where an identifiable effect of a past discriminatory act was
to destroy mixed residential pattern which would otherwise
have subsisted, it may not be feasible, by directing relief
only at the schools originally affected, in areas which are
now no longer integrated, to achieve effective relief. In
such cases, the court may direct its relief at patterns of
concentration by race, color or national origin within the
school district rather than at the particular schools originally
affected.
(b)
Subsection 105 (b) describes the type of
findings which must be made by the court before sec. 105 relief
may be awarded. The court, after conducting an appropriate
hearing, is to make specific findings concerning the degree
to which the concentration, by race, color or national origin,
in the student population of particular schools affected by
unlawful discrimination varies from what it would have been
8
had no such discrimination occurred. For example, a court
might find that, but for the discrimination, a school whose
student body is presently 60 percent black would have a student
body that is 30 percent black. Under subsection 105 (b),
with regard to that school, the objective of the court's
decree would be to achieve a student population which is 30
percent black.
If it is not feasible to make the above findings with
regard to particular schools or if it is not feasible to
fashion relief limited to the particular schools affected by
the discrimination, the court is to make specific findings
concerning the degree to which the over-all pattern of student
concentration, by race, color or national origin, in the
school system varies from what it would have been had the
unlawful discrimination not occurred. For example, a court
might find that, but for the discrimination, the district
would have had five schools with student bodies approximately
30 percent black; under subsection 105 (a), the objective of
the court's decree would be to establish a situation in
which five such schools exist.
(c) Subsection 105 (c) provides that, in any sub-
section 105 (b) hearing, the defendant-education agency shall
have the burden of going forward with the evidence. That is,
the defendant has the burden of introducing evidence concerning
the degree to which the concentration of students, by race,
color or national origin, (in particular schools or over-all
- 9 -
in the school system) is reasonably attributable to factors
other than unlawful discrimination on the part of the defendant
or another local or State agency. (Subsection 103 (b) prescribes
the manner in which findings concerning such discrimination
are to be made.)
Secsection 105 (c) further provides that, if the de-
fendant meets its burden by offering appropriate evidence,
the findings required by subsection 105 (b) are to be based
on conclusions and reasonable inferences from all of the evidence
before the court including evidence introduced under sec. 103.
Such findings are not to be based on a presumption, drawn
from the finding of liability made pursuant to subsection 103 (b)
or otherwise, that the concentration, by race, color or national
origin, in the student population of any particular school
or the over-all pattern of concentration in the school system
is the result of acts of unlawful discrimination.
(d) Subsection 105 (d) states that, if any order
entered under sec. 105 is based, in whole or in part, on
unlawful discrimination by a local or State agency other than
an education agency, the court is to state separately in its
findings the extent to which the effects found and the relief
ordered (pursuant to sec. 105) are based on such discrimination.
- / 0 -
(e)
Subsection 105 (e) exempts from sec. 105's
other requirements certain elements of an order entered
under sect. 105. Without regard to such other requirements,
the court may (1) approve any (otherwise lawful) desegregation
plan voluntarily adopted by a local or State education agency
or (2) direct institution of a program of voluntary majority-
to minority transfers by students.
Sec. 105 Voluntary action; local control
This sec. provides that any order entered under
sec. 105 is to rely, to the greatest extent practicable and
consistent with effective relief, on the voluntary action of
school officials, teachers and students. The court is not
to remove local or State control of the school system except
to the minimum extent necessary to prevent discrimination and
eliminate its present effects.
Sec. 7
Review of orders.
(a)
Subsection 107 (a) deals with review of court-
imposed requirements for "transportation of students." (The
quoted term is defined in subsection 102 (g) ) After such a
requirement has remained in effect for (1) three years from
the date of entry of the pertinent order or (2), in the case
of a final order entered before enactment of Title I, three
years from the date of enactment, the court, on motion of any
party is to review the requirement. The requirement may
then continue in effect only if the court makes the findings
described in paragraph 107 (a) (i) or (a) (ii). The subsection
in no way restricts or precludes earlier relief from the
requirement.
- 11 -
Under paragraph 107 (a) (i), if the court finds that the
local or State education agency has failed to comply with
that requirement and other provisions of the court's order
substantially and in good faith for the three years preceding
the filing of the motion, the court may continue the require-
ment in effect until there have been three consecutive years
of such compliance.
Under paragraph 107 (a) (ii), even where there have been
three consecutive years of substantial, good faith compliance,
the court may continue the requirement for transportation of
students if it finds (1) that the other provisions of its
order and other possible remedies are not adequate to correct
the effects of unlawful discrimination, determined in accordance
with sec. 105 of this title, and (2) that the requirement
remains necessary for that purpose. If the court makes those
findings, it may continue the requirement in effect, with
or without modification, until the education agency has complied
with the requirement substantially and in good faith for two
additional consecutive years. The proviso states that,
after there has been such compliance for two additional
consecutive years, the court may continue the requirement
in effect where there are extraordinary circumstances resulting
from the failure or delay of other remedial efforts, or in
cases of unusually severe residual effects of unlawful acts.
In such circumstances and cases, the requirement may be continued,
as a transitional means of last resort, for specific, limited
periods which the courts find essential to allow other
- 12 -
remedies to become effective. Absent such extraordinary
circumstances or unusually severe effects, there is to be
no further continuation of the requirement for transportation
of students. (But see the discussion below of subsection 107 (b) .)
(b) This subsection relates to situations in which,
after the termination of a court-imposed requirement for
transportation of students, conduct occurs which may call
for reimposing such a requirement.
Subject to certain limitations, the court may reimpose
a requirement for transportation of students if, after termina-
tion of the initial requirement of that type, the court finds:
4 -
-13-
(i) that the local or State education agency,
subsequent to the termination, has failed to com-
ply substantially and in good faith with other
provisions of the court's order; or
(ii) that an act or acts of unlawful discrim-
ination, as defined in sec. 103 (b), have occurred
since the termination and have caused a greater
present degree of concentration, by race, color, or
national origin, than would otherwise have existed
in normal course
Such a requirement may be reimposed only if the court
determines that no other remedy would be sufficient.
Moreover, the requirement for transportation of students may
be reimposed only to the extent and for such limited time
as may be necessary to remedy the effects found, pursuant
to sec. 105, to be reasonably attributable to the post-
termination conduct found pursuant to paragraph 107 (b) (i)
or (ii).
Sec. 108. Effect of subsequent shifts in population
This section states that, when an order subject to
sec. 107 has been entered and thereafter shifts in housing
patterns cause changes in student distribution by race,
color or national origin, ordinarily the court is not to
require modification of the student-assignment plan to
compensate for such changes. The court may require such
modification if it finds, pursuant to sec. 6, that the
changes in student distribution result from discrimination
on the part of the local or State education agency or another
local or State agency. (Regarding findings of discrimination
on the part of agencies of the latter type, see the discussion
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of subsection 103 (b) )
Sec. 109. Intervention
(a) Subsection 109 (a) provides that the court is
to notify the Attorney General of the United States of any
proceeding, to which the United States is not a party, in
which the relief sought includes relief covered by sec. 6.
This applies whenever sec. 105 is applicable, whether in
regard to a new suit, an application for additional relief,
or a proceeding necessitated by sec. 107 in a pre-enactment
suit. In addition, the court is to advise the Attorney
General whenever it believes that an order or an extension
of an order requiring the transportation of students in
order to alter their distribution by race, color or national
origin may be necessary.
(b) This subsection states that, in any pro-
ceeding covered by subsection 109 (a), the Attorney General
may, in his discretion, intervene as a party. Alternatively,
the Attorney General may elect to appear for such special
purpose as he deems necessary to facilitate enforcement of
Title I. Such special purposes include recommending
(1) that a mediator be appointed to assist the court, the
parties and the affected community or (2) that a committee
of community leaders be appointed to prepare, for the court's
consideration, a five-year desegregation plan, with the
objective of enabling required assignment and transportation
of students to be avoided or minimized during the five-year
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period and terminated at the end of that period.
Sec. 110 Separability
This section states that, if any provision of Title I
or the application of any such provision to any person or
circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the title
and the application of such provision to any other person
or circumstances is not to be affected thereby.
1
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Title II. The National Community and Education
Committee
Sec. 201. Purpose
The purpose of Title II is to create a nonpartisan
National Committee composed of citizens with experience in
activities relating to the desegregation of schools within a
community. The Committee would be available to assist
communities that are now engaged, or preparing to engage, in
school desegregation in order to help those communities
facilitate that process, anticipate and handle difficulties
and thereby reduce or avoid public misunderstanding and
disorder.
Sec. 202. Establishment of the Committee
Sec. 202 of the bill would establish the Committee
in the Executive Branch of the Federal Government. The
Committee would be composed of not fewer than fifty nor more
than one hundred members. Ten of the members would be
appointed by the President and would comprise the executive
council of the Committee. The President would also appoint
a Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Committee from among the
executive council. The remainder of the members would be
appointed by the executive council of the Committee. The
executive council would establish general operating policies
for the Committee and approve all grants made by the Committee.
The committee would be authorized to employ a small professional
17
staff or obtain the services of consultants, but it is
expected that the bulk of the activities of the Committee
would be carried out by Committee members themselves. For
each day spent on the work of the Committee, members would
be compensated at a rate not to exceed that paid at level IV
of the Federal Executive Salary Schedule.
Sec. 203. Functions of the Committee
The primary functions of the Committee are set forth
in Sec. 203 of the bill. These functions include (1) consulting
with community leaders and local groups to assist them in
preparing for the desegregation process in a manner designed
to avoid community conflicts, (2) encouraging the formation of
local community organizations to help the community plan for
desegregation, (3) providing advice and technical assistance
in this planning process, (4) consulting with various Federal
agencies to determine how those agencies can assist communities
in resolving problems arising during the desegregation process,
(5) providing informal conciliation services among community
groups, and (6) providing grants to assist in the establish-
ment and development of such community organizations.
Sec. 204. Community Grants
Sec. 204 authorizes the Chairman of the Committee,
upon approval by the executive council, to make grants to
private nonprofit community organizations in order to assist
them in the initial stages of activities designed to accomplish
the purposes of this Title. Grants could not exceed $30,000
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and would not be available to assist the organization for
more than one year. In order to approve a grant to a
community organization, the executive council of the Committee
would require an applicant to demonstrate that it has
adequate financial or other support from the community in
order to demonstrate reasonable promise of making substantial
progress towards achieving the purpose of this Title.
Sec. 205. Limitations on Activities of the Committee
Sec. 205 sets forth certain limitations on the
activities of the Committee. This provision is designed to
make clear that it is not the function of the Committee to
(1) prepare desegregation plans, (2) provide mediation services
under the order or a State of Federal court, (3) investigate
1
or take any other action with respect to alleged violations
oflaw, or (4) participate or assist in any administrative or
judicial proceedings under State or Federal law seeking the
desegregation of schools.
Sec. 206. Cooperation by Other Departments and Agencies
Sec. 206 of the bill would direct all executive
departments and agencies of the United States to cooperate
with the Committee and furnish it such information, personnel
and other assistance as the Committee may need to carry out
its functions. This section also requires the Attorney
General, the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare
and the heads of agencies within that Department to administer
19
programs which are designed to assist local educational
agencies and communities in planning for and carrying out
desegregation of schools in a manner that would further
the activities of the Committee.
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Sec. 207 Confidentiality
Sec.
207 of the bill provides that members and employees
of the Committee may carry out their activities in confidence.
The Committee shall not disclose, or be compelled to disclose,
any information which it acquires in carrying out its duties
if such information was provided to the Committee upon an
understanding of such confidentiality.
Sec. 208 Authorization of Appropriations.
Sec. 208 authorizes the appropriation of a total of
$4 million for the Committee for the fiscal year ending
September 30, 1977, and for each of the two succeeding fiscal
years. Of this amount, $2,000,000 would be authorized for
salaries and expenses of the Committee and $2,000,000 for
making grants to community organizations.
Sec. 209 Federal Community Assistance Coordinating Committee
Sec. 209 of the bill would create a Federal Community
Assistance Coordinating Council, the purpose of which would
be to provide a central point in the Federal government to
assist community organizations in determining what types of
Federal programs are available for activities within their
communities to provide assistance for community relations
projects, education programs, and other community-based efforts
which would help to reduce or eliminate the misunderstanding
and disorder that could be associated with school desegregation.
21
Each Federal agency which administers programs providing such
assistance would be represented on the council. These
representatives of Federal agencies would be available to
assist community organizations in (1) designing projects
or activities that show promise of assisting in those
efforts, (2) determining which Federal programs would be
available for those activities, and (3) completing the
necessary application forms and other prerequisites in order
to expedite the availability of such Federal assistance.
$250,000 would be authorized to be appropriated for this
activity.
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