Posted on 02/27/2002 5:04:22 AM PST by Stand Watch Listen
It has recently come to light that many local Boy Scouts of America troops, and their legions of community supporters, are unaware of their legally enforceable rights under the "No Child Left Behind Act", which was passed by both houses of the United States Congress and then signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 8 of this year.The "No Child Left Behind Act", a new reauthorization of the ESEA, is the all-encompassing federal law which is binding upon every school and every school district in the United States of America, without exception. The part of the law which guarantees the legal rights of the BSA in particular and by name is Section # 9525.
Everyone who wants to end the discrimination against the BSA in their local community should have a printout of Section # 9525.
It says that the Boy Scouts of America cannot be discriminated against with regards to the usage of public school facilities.
This means that the BSA cannot be prohibited from using public school facilities for after-school meetings.
Additionally, and extremely critically, it means that the BSA cannot be subjected to de facto discrimination under the law, such as being charged fees even one penny more than other groups, or being disallowed from usage of school facilities during any time period in which other groups are not similarly disallowed.
The BSA do not have to conform in any measure to the policies of a particular school district in order to be legally afforded the rights delineated to them under law under Section #9525 of the new "No Child Left Behind Act".
Please check with your local BSA troop, and ask them if they've been prohibited from using public school facilities, or charged higher fees than any other groups, or had their access to the public schools restricted in comparison to other groups. Any and all of these conditions are illegal.
If any of these illegally discriminatory conditions exist in your community, speak out. Attend a BSA meeting, and talk to your local Republican and Constitution Party organizations about taking action to redress the situation legally.
The official web page of the new Federal Law which ensures the BSA equal access to public schools gives you all the info you'll need. Once you're at the main page, look for a little box in the upper left-hand corner labeled, "No Child Left Behind".
Click on "Law - P.L.107-110 (H.R.1)", which is one of the blue hyperlinks on there. That will take you to a page listing various sections of the law itself.
Scroll down to "SEC. 9525. EQUAL ACCESS TO PUBLIC SCHOOL FACILITIES" and click on that. Doing so will take you to a page with the full text of Section 9525, which is the section specifically protecting the BSA from any and all of the forms of discrimination mentioned. Print it out and share it with friends.
Discrimination by any school district or individual public school against the Boy Scouts of America is illegal, and the BSA cannot be coerced into altering their codes of conduct, organizational morals, hiring qualifications, or freedom of association.
Some very intolerant people in communities across the nation are illegally discriminating against the BSA anyway, in a misguided effort to coerce the Boy Scouts into compromising their moral values.
Please get involved right away; the Scouts are worth standing up for.
Thank you.
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