Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 88 Part 1.djvu/558

 514

PUBLIC LAW 93-380-AUG. 21, 1974

[88 STAT.

20 USC 9ooa.i.

(3) inserting the word "or" after clause (1) of such section; and (4) inserting the word "or" at the end of clause (2) of such section.

Equal EducaaerL?of°i97i:

TITLE II — E Q U A L E D U C A T I O N A L O P P O R T U N I T I E S AND THE TEANSPOETATION OF STUDENTS SHORT TITLE

20 USC 1701

gEC. 201. This title may be cited as the "Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974". PART A — E Q U A L EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

Subpart 1—Policy and Purpose DECLARATION or POLICY

20 USC 1701.

gj,^ 202. (a) The Congress declares it to be the policy of the United States that— (1) all children enrolled in public schools are entitled to equal educational opportunity without regard to race, color, sex, or national origin; and (2) the neighborhood is the appropriate basis for determining public school assignments. (b) I n order to carry out this policy, it is the purpose of this part to specify appropriate remedies for the orderly removal of the vestiges of the dual school system. FINDINGS

20 USC 1702.

gjjc. 203. (a) The Congress finds that— (1) the maintenance of dual school systems in which students are assigned to schools solely on the basis of race, color, sex, or national origin denies to those students the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the fourteenth amendment; (2) for the purpose of abolishing dual school systems and eliminating the vestiges thereof, many local educational agencies have been required to reorganize their school systems, to reassign students, and to engage in the extensive transportation of students; (3) the implementation of desegregation plans that require extensive student transportation has, in many cases, required local educational agencies to expend large amount of funds, thereby depleting their financial resources available for the maintenance or improvement of the quality of educational facilities and instruction provided; (4) transportation of students which creates serious risks to their health and safety, disrupts the educational process carried out with respect to such students, and impinges significantly on their educational opportunity, is excessive; (5) the risks and harms created by excessive transportation are particularly great for children enrolled in the first six grades; and (6) the guidelines provided by the courts for fashioning remedies to dismantle dual school systems have been, as the Supreme Court of the United States has said, "incomplete and imperfect," and have not established, a clear, rational, and uniform standard for determining the extent to which a local educational agency is required to reassign and transport its students in order to eliminate the vestiges of a dual school system.

�