1 2 3 4 5 6 2 (2) it is in the public interest to terminate at the carliest practical date by means consistent with the Con stitution the involvement of United States courts in deci sions affecting the operation, management, and control of public schools. (b) In order to carry out this policy it is the purpose of 7 this Act to specify appropriate criteria for the formulation of 8 remedies for the orderly elimination of the vestiges of dual 9 school systems. FINDINGS SEC. 3. (a) The Congress finds that- (1) dual school systems as defined by the courts have been effectively dismantled in the United States; (2) in the process of eliminating dual school systems, many local educational agencies have been required to reorganize their school systems and undertake massive reassignments of students and to engage in the extensive transportation of such students; (3) the guidelines provided by the courts for fashioning remedies to dismantle previously-maintained dual school systems and for the elimination of the vestiges of dual systems have been acknowledged by the Supreme Court of the United States to be "incomplete and imperfect," and the Congress finds that they are particularly inadequate from the standpoint of pro 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 3 viding criteria for determining the extent to which an educational agency is required to reassign or transport students to eliminate the vestiges of the dual school system; (4) the implementation of desegregation plans that require extensive student transportation has, in many cases, required local educational agencies to expend a large amount of funds, thereby depleting their financial resources available for the maintenance or improvement of the quality of educational facilities and instruction provided; (5) transportation of students is excessive when it creates serious risks to the health and safety of students, or disrupts the educational process carried out with respect to such students, or impinges significantly on their educational opportunity; (6) the risks and harms created by excessive transportation are particularly great for children enrolled in the first six grades; (7) the neighborhood is the appropriate basis for determining public school assignments in the first six grades; (8) the assignment of students to schools on the basis of geographic attendance areas drawn on a racially 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 23 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 4 nondiscriminatory basis is educationally sound and is consistent with public policy long recognized by Congress. (9) it is contrary to public policy to require an educational agency to attain or maintain a balance, on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, or socioeconomic classes of students among its schools; (10) it is contrary to the public interest to require an educational agency to make year-by-year school assignments to adjust the racial composition of student bodies after desegregation has been accomplished and racial discrimination through official action is eliminated from the separate school systems in the Nation; (11) in the interest of orderly administration of public schools, it is urgent that school authorities be provided authoritative criteria by which to determine what is required by Congress and the courts to eliminate the vestiges of previously maintained dual school systems; (b) For the foregoing reasons, it is necessary and 21 proper that the Congress, pursuant to the powers granted to 22 it by the Constitution of the United States, specify appropri23 ate remedies for the elimination of the vestiges of dual school 24 systems. 5 1 2 TITLE I-ASSIGNMENT PROVISIONS ASSIGNMENT ON NEIGHBORHOOD BASIS 3 SEC. 101. Subject to the other provisions of this title, 4 the assignment by an educational agency of a student to the 5 school nearest his place of residence which provides the 6 appropriate grade level and type of education for such stu7 dent is not a denial of equal protection of the laws unless 8 such assignment is made for the purpose of segregating stu9 dents on the basis of race, color, sex, or national origin. 10 11 12 BALANCE NOT REQUIRED SEC. 102. The failure of an educational agency to attain a balance, on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, or 13 socioeconomic status of students among its schools shall not 14 constitute a denial of equal protection of the laws. 15 16 17 TITLE II-REMEDIES FORMULATING REMEDIES; APPLICABILITY SEC. 201. In formulating a remedy for a denial of the 18 equal protection of the laws, a court, department, or agency 19 of the United States shall seek or impose only such remedies 20 as are essential to correct particular denials of equal protec21 tion of the laws. 223 SEC. 202. In formulating a remedy for a denial of the 23 equal protection of the laws, which may involve the trans 24 portation of students, a court, department, or agency of the 30-623 O-74-2 6 1 United States shall consider and make specific findings on the 2 efficacy in correcting such denial of the following remedies 3 and shall require implementation of the first of the remedies 4 set out below, or on the first combination thereof which would 5 remedy such denial; (a) assigning students to the schools closest to their places of residence which provide the appropriate grade level and type of education for such students, taking into account school capacities and natural physical barriers; (b) assigning students to the schools closest to their places of residence which provide the appropriate grade level and type of education for such students, taking into account only school capacities; (c) permitting students to transfer from a school in which a majority of the students are of their race, color, or national origin to a school in which a minority of the students are of their race, color, or national origin; (d) the creation or revision of attendance zones or grade structures without requiring transportation beyond that described in section 203; (e) the development and implementation of any other plan which is educationally sound and administra tively feasible, subject to the provisions of sections 203 and 204 of this Act. |