Advocacy Effort: Removing Anti-Integration Rider in FY2018 Appropriations

In every appropriations legislation since at least 1974, there has been language prohibiting federal funding from being used for transportation to support public school racial integration.

This language is contained in Sections 301 and 302 of the Department of Education’s budget in H.R. 3354 (the appropriations bill that the House passed in 2017), as well as in S. 1771 (the appropriations bill passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee last year).

In November, 2017, members of the National Coalition on School Diversity submitted a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee urging them to strike outdated, harmful language from the FY 2018 budget.

 

HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED:

 

UPDATES:

  • March 30, 2018: We were partially successful in our campaign to remove anti-integration language from this year’s appropriations bills. Congress added language to its omnibus bill to exempt magnet schools from the anti-integration rider (see pg. 69 here). While this was a small step in the right direction, it falls short of what’s needed. See our full statement.
  • March 22, 2018: The Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressman Cedric L. Richmond (D-LA-02), released the following statement on House passage of the FY 2018 spending bill
  • March 22, 2018: Congressman Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after he voted in favor of the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2018
  • March 14, 2018: The government’s continuing funding resolution for FY 2018 is set to run out on March 23rd. The House of Representatives may vote this week on a funding bill for the rest of FY 2018. This will likely be our last chance to strike the harmful anti-integration rider this fiscal year. The Senate is expected to vote next week on the bill, so the time for action is NOW! Share these tweets if you live in New York or North Carolina.
  • November 2017: members of the National Coalition on School Diversity submitted a letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee urging them to strike outdated, harmful language from the FY 2018 budget.