Archived: Statement by Norma V. Cantu, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights,on the FY 1999 Budget Request for the Office for Civil Rights, Before the House Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-ED Appropriations .

A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

Speeches and Testimony

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Statement by
Norma V. Cantu
Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
Before the House Appropriations Subcommittee
on Labor, Health & Human Services and Education
on the
Fiscal Year 1999 Budget Request
for the Office for Civil Rights

April 1, 1998

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

I am pleased to share with you the 1999 budget request for $68 million for the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the U.S. Department of Education. This request is an increase of $6.5 million over the 1998 budget level of $61.5 million.

OCR is responsible for enforcing the Federal civil rights laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability and age in educational institutions receiving Federal financial assistance. Since 1993, we have received approximately 5000 complaints of discrimination each year. Chart 1 shows the number of OCR's complaint receipts and resolutions from FY 1990 to FY 1997.

The funding we request will help students at all levels of Federally-funded education -- from early childhood through graduation from postsecondary or vocational institutions. More than 66 million students attend schools in approximately 15,000 school districts and 3,600 colleges and universities that receive federal financial assistance and are, therefore, covered by the civil rights laws enforced by OCR. OCR serves these students through a law enforcement program that addresses their problems and brings together all interested parties, early in the process, to resolve the civil rights concerns. Above all, our program is fair and balanced in its implementation and meets rigorous performance measures.

Funding in accordance with our request will also result in more information and assistance for students, parents, and educators about their rights and responsibilities under the civil rights laws. Such increased information and assistance should lead to improved compliance by educational institutions. Funding at the requested level will also ensure a better trained staff to more efficiently and effectively resolve complaints with less burden on educational institutions. More funding for prevention translates into less money expended in private litigation and saves time and money for institutions that are subject to claims of discrimination. In summary, our fiscal resources translate directly into our ability to increase all students' access to a high quality education.

A BALANCED ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM SERVING STUDENTS

OCR's primary activity is resolving complaints. In 1997, OCR's complaint receipts increased almost 10 percent from the previous year. Most of these complaints allege failure to provide a free, appropriate public education to students with disabilities. Complaints alleging discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin comprise approximately 20 percent of OCR's complaint workload; complaints alleging discrimination on the basis of sex and age make up 8 percent and 1 percent, respectively. Chart 2 shows OCR's complaint receipts by category for FY 1997.

OCR has changed the way it does business. OCR's new approaches capitalize on the shared interests of parents, educators, and administrators in ensuring that all children are provided equal access to high quality education. As a result, OCR has fostered working partnerships with school districts, colleges, and universities. For example, OCR received a complaint against the New York City Board of Education alleging discrimination against minority students and their parents throughout New York City, a District with more than one million students. The complaint alleged that schools were not providing information to minority parents about a wealth of programs offered by the District, which denied minority students access to gifted and talented programs, advanced placement classes, and specialized schools. OCR worked in partnership with the Board of Education to develop an agreement that ensures that all parents receive information that will result in increased access to quality education. Partnerships help us find new ways to identify and resolve problems and prevent future discrimination, while setting a model for other districts.

OCR has a unique responsibility to ensure that school districts, colleges, and universities provide access to quality education for all students. We meet with parents, educators, administrators, and other interested parties to identify acute or systemic problems that are not adequately addressed through the complaint process. Efforts undertaken as a result of this outreach ensure that civil rights issues that unlawfully limit students' access to quality education are dealt with strategically.

For example, OCR recently reviewed the Minneapolis Public Schools. We targeted two issues that educators and OCR have been wrestling with over the past few years: minorities and special education and minority childrens' access to gifted and talented education programs. Our resolution agreement with the District stressed three themes: meaningful regular education interventions for all students who need help; the importance of a well-trained teacher corps; and greater District-level oversight of individual schools. The District also agreed to maximize parental involvement and early intervention teamwork, and to improve assessment, outreach, and monitoring practices so that all students have equal access to high quality gifted and talented education programs. With a population of over 46,000 students, this single agreement will result in thousands of students having access to the high standards education that they deserve.

Where earlier administrations focused almost exclusively on responding to discrimination after it happened, OCR's program is aimed at prevention too. In addition to resolving complaints, OCR reaches out to students, parents and educators with abundant information about their legal rights and responsibilities. We work with parents and educators to help them develop local partnerships and give them the tools to solve problems themselves. Approximately 500 parents and educators call OCR staff for information and assistance every week. Moreover, we believe that partnerships created with states, school districts, and colleges achieve our mutual goals of eliminating and preventing discrimination and meeting sound educational interests. One example of OCR's work in preventing civil rights problems through partnership was our assistance to the State of Georgia. Upon learning that the sole criterion for access to gifted and talented programs in the State of Georgia was based exclusively upon a student achieving an IQ score of 130, OCR worked closely with educators in Georgia to persuade the State to expand its definition of "giftedness." Experts and educators agree that these multiple criteria more accurately identify the pool of gifted and talented children who will benefit from such programs. Today, school districts in Georgia use multiple criteria when assessing children for eligibility to their gifted and talented programs. The result of our efforts has been to increase minority students' access without lowering the quality of any gifted and talented programs in the State.

OCR makes every effort to work with an educational institution to resolve violations of the civil rights laws; formal enforcement proceedings begin only when all other alternatives to reach a resolution have failed. Since FY 1994, OCR has referred 6 cases for either administrative or judicial enforcement. This is 6 cases out of more than 20,000 complaints and compliance reviews.

In one of these cases, a school district in West Virginia failed to make its programs accessible to mobility impaired students. The district schools lacked accessible entrances, bathrooms, and interior routes to all parts of the building. In some schools, this meant a student in a wheelchair could not go to the cafeteria or library. After the district signed an agreement to make certain schools accessible, and later reported it had fulfilled the agreement, OCR learned the district had not made any of is schools accessible. In spite of OCR's repeated attempts to get the district to honor its commitments, the district refused to implement its agreement with OCR. With little other choice, OCR notified the district of its intention to hold a hearing to terminate funding, whereupon the district finally agreed to implement the agreed-upon corrective actions.

ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESULTS

The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (Results Act) asks Federal agencies to focus on the real results of their programs. OCR's performance indicators, developed in response to the Act are derived from its Strategic Plan and define results for this agency as increasing access to high quality education; increasing the number of students affected by our efforts; increasing the number of successful partnerships, particularly those that empower parents and students; and increasing the involvement of parents and students as part of our compliance efforts.

Focusing on accountability and results is not new to this agency. The product of our complaints and compliance reviews is resolution agreements and we expend significant staff time working with recipients in monitoring the implementation of these agreements.

Only when a plan has been fully implemented can we be sure that the district has been able to accomplish its intended goals, that students have access to equal educational opportunity and that we have achieved meaningful return and maximum impact from the resources we have invested.

OCR recently completed monitoring two agreements in the State of Arizona that dealt with the education of language minority students. We monitored one agreement for three and one half years. During those years, we saw the following results: over 1000 limited English proficient (LEP) students achieved full proficiency in reading, writing, and speaking; the numbers of alternative language program teachers increased from 76 to 161. Moreover, the District's own self-evaluation revealed that: 17.7 percent of all LEP students attained English writing proficiency (a 105 percent increase over school year 1994-95); 26.2 percent of LEP students became competent English readers (a 68.8 percent increase over school year 1994-95). In another agreement, we saw the following results: the number of LEP students in gifted and talented programs increased by 130 percent while maintaining the high quality of the program; LEP students scored at or above the same level as non-LEP students in reading or language on standardized tests in grades 2 through 6: and the number of qualified alternative language program teachers increased by 50. Working actively with the districts, we have ensured meaningful access to a quality education for all students.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

OCR's work is staff intensive. For the first time in several years, the FY 1998 Appropriation provides sufficient funding to OCR for the staff and resources to resolve complaints in a timely manner. Because of insufficient funding in the past three years, OCR could not hire staff to offset staff losses and did not hire in the face of an increasing number of cases received. This year's budget allows OCR to handle our increasing complaint work load and carry out a well-designed compliance review program. OCR is currently recruiting and hiring highly-qualified staff to fill vacant positions to achieve this goal. The increased funding will also allow OCR to provide greater information and technical assistance to help students understand their rights and educators understand their responsibilities to improve compliance with the law.

With $11.2 million required costs for items such as rent, utilities, OCR's share of Departmental costs, as well as $51 million for salaries and expenses to maintain our staffing level, $5.8 million is left for OCR staff to perform their work of ensuring equal access to high quality education for all students. The requested $5.8 million will provide resources for training, travel for investigations and monitoring, technical assistance for students, parents and educators and will have a direct impact on the number of students OCR serves and the timeliness and effectiveness of OCR's work. Included in the $5.8 million request, which is a modest $1.7 million increase over the FY 1998 level for the same resources, are increases for:

$1.4 million for travel, an increase of $315,000 from FY 1998, to investigate and monitor cases stemming from complaints of discrimination. Travel by the staff in our 12 enforcement offices is essential for OCR to reach effective resolutions, often in lieu of investigations. Travel is crucial to monitoring activities and assistance to school districts and colleges and universities. OCR's interaction with parents, educators, and other groups interested in education is vital to its work. The proposed increase will also allow OCR to be more responsive to educators' requests for onsite assistance. In recent years, OCR has declined numerous requests due to insufficient travel funds. Preventive efforts are often more cost-effective than complaint investigations in correcting systemic problems.
$329,000 for printing, an increase of $228,000, for printing and reproduction for technical assistance materials and publications to assist recipients and parents and students who seek explanations about the laws that OCR enforces and the processes for ensuring that the rights of all individuals are protected, consistent with federal law. In addition, OCR has budgeted the cost of complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements that publications and pamphlets will also be available in alternative formats, i.e. Braille, large print, and audio cassette.
$250,000 for advisory and assistance services, an increase of $196,000 to hire educational experts to assist in the growing number of complex cases for which unique expertise is not available within OCR or the Department of Education. Access to such expertise is essential given the increase in cases filed with OCR.
$546,000 for training, an increase of $135,000. Because of staff reductions over the years, it becomes more and more critical that we invest in maintaining the most highly skilled and motivated staff possible. As a result of this investment, the efficiencies that will be realized are a staff with more sophisticated analytical skills and a more knowledgeable staff to negotiate with recipients and be more responsive to customers.
$2.0 million for ADP equipment and related information technology activities, an increase of $1.2 million, is primarily for the upgrade/replacement of personal computers and computer-related equipment and software, and to provide access to the Department's new financial system and other new network applications. The additional funds will also allow OCR to maintain and enhance a number of efficiencies as a result of technology: faster document production and information transfer within and among its thirteen offices; more expeditious communications with recipients and complainants; and more efficient use of staff.
Also included in the $5.8 million requested is $847,000 to support on-going survey and data collection projects, primarily the Elementary and Secondary Education School Survey which is one of the Department's top priorities. Data from this survey are used by OCR to confirm sites for compliance reviews and by other Federal government agencies, advocacy groups, educational institutions, and researchers.

The issues we face in FY 1999 will not differ greatly from the civil rights issues we have encountered in recent years. Students and educators will still ask the Federal government to prevent and eliminate discrimination on the basis of disability, race, color, national origin, gender and age. We appreciate your support of our efforts to ensure access to a high quality education for all of America's students and ask your continued support to be able to serve and protect these students.

My colleagues and I will be happy to respond to any questions you may have.

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