Yes I am. I don't like the income tax either, but as long as we have it, I will exploit every provision to lower my taxes that I can.
This is brilliant stealth politics.
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Posted on 09/28/2002 12:38:28 AM PDT by chance33_98
School Board Yields to Federal Legislation
By EMMA SCHWARTZ Contributing Writer Friday, September 27, 2002
Berkeley school board members agreed Wednesday night to follow a federal law even though the board had previously passed two resolutions that contradict it.
The Berkeley Unified School District must immediately comply with the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which sets standards for educational policy, to receive federal funds for the current school year.
Two of the act's clauses require the school district to open its facilities to Boy Scouts of America and provide military recruiters with information about students, both of which conflict with prior school board policy.
In 1998, the school district passed a resolution banning organizations they deemed discriminatory from using school facilities. Boy Scouts of America does not allow homosexuals to hold leadership positions.
Additionally, previous school district policy prohibited the release of personal student information to college or military recruiters .
Boardmember Terry Doran said the board "reluctantly" accepted the federal law because its members do not have funds to challenge it in court.
"We have no choice, even though it breaks our policy," he said. "We feel our local policy follows national guidelines against any kind of discrimination. Yet we're being told now by a national legislation that we don't have to follow national law."
Under the new school district policy, parents may send a letter to prevent schools from releasing their children's information to military recruiters.
District officials said they will inform high school students of the policy and will include information about it in the new student handbook.
U.S. Department of Education spokesperson Jim Bradshaw said the federal act was a "far-reaching" educational reform but declined to comment on how the two clauses contribute to education.
Law experts said clauses that threaten local governments with restrictions on federal funding are generally used to enforce anti-discrimination policies.
"Putting conditions on the receipt of federal funds is a long time-honored tradition," said Boalt Hall School of Law professor Malcolm Feeley. "The irony is that it appears to be used to force the city to discriminate or support organizations which discriminate."
Leaders of Boy Scout troops in Berkeley said they were pleased with the school board's announcement but said they do not anticipate much change in their activities because they have arrangements to use other facilities.
Some leaders added they were "sympathetic" with the school board's concern over Boy Scouts of America policy toward homosexuals.
"The policy is dead wrong," said Rob Ham, an assistant scoutmaster for a local troop.
The act balances privacy with national security by allowing the government access to information necessary for military recruitment while giving parents control of their children's personal information, said Bill Carr, Department of Defense principal director of Military Personnel Policy.
In the past 10 years military recruiting has become harder, and investment per recruit has increased from $6,500 to $12,000, Carr added.
"The policy is dead wrong," said Rob Ham, an assistant scoutmaster for a local troop.
NO IT'S NOT!
Question for the conservative purists, are you against these provisions in the law because they violate the concept of "local control?"
I will always have problems with the Feds getting into the local government - but liberal side has been doing it for years and perhaps the only way to get it to stop is to shove it back at them, maybe they will learn a valuable lesson. They want the government off their backs? Well we have been asking for that for years. We play by the rules and they break them all the time, maybe the only way to get things back to how they should be is to break the rules ourselves and give them an education in what having big government running your life looks like when their not the ones in control of that big government.
This IS Free Republic, isn't it?
Yes, even though I think Berkeley is repugnant for banning the Boy Scouts simply because they want to protect their charges from predators.
Not a good argument. Supporting circumvention of the constitution because it is advantageous to the "conservative" side for once is a pyrrhic victory. If it is a victory at all.
Sometimes it is necessary to fight fire with fire.
I think one of the provisions might fit into "Provide for the common defense."
Yes I am. I don't like the income tax either, but as long as we have it, I will exploit every provision to lower my taxes that I can.
This is brilliant stealth politics.
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I surely would like to the the Feds get out of education where there is no constitutional mandate. Same with every other thing the Feds do that has no constitutional mandate...or about 80% of what the Feds do.
Until we can get the federal govt out of education entirely, how about we play by OUR rules for a change? If it weren't for federal dollars there would be no liberalism in this country. We need to start attaching strings to our money and stop underwriting these anti-American zealots. Let them find provide their own funding.
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