Questions and Answers About the Education Bill

Jan 08, 2002

What is the Elementary and Secondary Education Act?

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the primary vehicle for the federal government’s K-12 education policy initiatives, was first passed in 1965 to address the educational inequities that existed for low-income and minority students. Reconsidered every five years, ESEA authorizes funds for most programs of federal aid to elementary and secondary education and establishes many requirements for states and schools as conditions for receiving those funds.

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act passed by the 107th Congress, The No Child Left Behind Act (H.R.1), reauthorizes forty-five programs for the next six years and authorizes, but does not itself appropriate, more than 26 billion dollars to Local Education Agencies to implement the programs outlined in the bill. It is important to note, however, that less than 8% of public school funding comes from the federal government. The remainder comes from state and local sources.

Why was the Boy Scouts Equal Access Act introduced and incorporated, as amended, into the ESEA?

In 2000, the US Supreme Court held that the Boy Scouts of America, as a private organization, had the right to discriminate against gay youth who wanted to be members of BSA and gay adults who wanted to volunteer their time as leaders. Following the Supreme Court decision, some individual schools, school districts, the United Way and other community based organizations began to reevaluate or terminate their relationship with the Boy Scouts of America and affiliated organizations based upon its discriminatory policy. Long time anti-gay Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) and US Representative Van Hilleary (R-TX) introduced an amendment to ESEA, in response to the actions taken by some of these individual schools and school districts, that prohibited the use of federal funds to discriminate against the BSA and affiliated organizations. The final version of ESEA contained a provision called the Boy Scouts Equal Access Act that was narrower than the original Helms/Hilleary amendment and would withdraw federal funds from individual schools and local education agencies rather than an entire state.

Generally, what does the Boy Scouts Equal Access Act mean for my school? Are schools required to sponsor Scout troops?

According to the language used in Boy Scouts Equal Access Act, elementary and secondary schools--to the extent that they create open or limited public forums--are prohibited from denying equal access or a fair opportunity to meet to any group officially affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America that wishes to conduct meetings in school facilities before or after the hours during which attendance at the school is compulsory. In other words, if a school allows an organization to use its facilities, it must give other organizations, including the Boy Scouts, an opportunity to use their facilities. Practically speaking, the Boy Scouts provision in ESEA is an unnecessary solution for a problem that does not exist. Although many have confused access with sponsorship, this provision does not require schools to sponsor Boy Scout troops.

Can we organize to stop our schools from sponsoring troops?

You may absolutely organize to stop schools from sponsoring troops! When schools sponsor Boy Scout troops, they implicitly endorse the BSA’s discriminatory policies and practices. Many schools do not support the Boy Scouts’ policy of exclusion but may feel unnecessarily obligated to sponsor individual troops because of this new federal law. It is imperative that local communities organize to educate their local schools and school districts about the responsibilities of schools in reference to the BSA.