The Coalition Against Religious Discrimination
MAINTAIN THE BIPARTISAN DIRECTION OF THE SCHOOL READINESS ACT OF 2005 (H.R. 2123) LEAVE LONGSTANDING CRITICAL CIVIL RIGHTS PROTECTIONS IN TACT
Dear Committee Member:
We, the undersigned religious, civil rights, labor, education, health, and advocacy organizations are writing to urge you to maintain the bipartisan direction of the School Readiness Act (H.R. 2123) and oppose any attempt to repeal longstanding critical civil rights protections. As passed out of Subcommittee on Education Reform, the bill maintains longstanding provisions designed to protect over 198,000 Head Start teachers and staff and over 1,450,000 parent volunteers from employment discrimination based on religion in federally-funded positions in Head Start programs.
The critical longstanding nondiscrimination provisions have been included in Head Start legislation since 1981. This is a fundamental civil rights protection against employment discrimination for Head Start teachers and volunteers. The legislation always has received strong bipartisan support from both the House and Senate since its enactment in the 97th Congress when President Ronald Reagan signed the legislation into law. The twenty-four year old civil rights provision has worked effectively since the inception of this program, allowing religious organizations to participate in programs while maintaining constitutional and civil rights standards.
We are pleased with the bipartisan direction of the Head Start legislation. However, this bill should no longer be bipartisan if there is any attempt to rollback longstanding critical civil rights protections. In a statement released by the Committee on Education and the Workforce on May 5, 2005, the day H.R. 2123 was introduced, Chairman Boehner stated that he foresees an amendment on the House floor to rollback longstanding critical civil rights protections. The civil rights protections afforded to Head Start teachers and staff are vital and should not be dislodged. This bill has the potential to gain broad support among religious, civil rights, labor, education, health, and advocacy organizations, but that broad support will end if there is any threat to remove the longstanding critical civil rights protections in Head Start.
We recognize that religious organizations participating in the Head Start program make an invaluable contribution to the education of thousands of students. These religious organizations have complied with Head Start's existing civil rights requirements. However, if the repeal of the existing civil rights protections becomes law, teachers or parent volunteers working in any Head Start program run by a religious organization could potentially lose their jobs based only on their religion. Students participating in Head Start therefore could lose not only their teachers, but also the close programmatic connection with their own parents volunteering in the program. We strongly believe that allowing discrimination based on religion would significantly impede the important goals of Head Start, send a damaging message to Head Start students, and harm their education by separating students from their own teachers and parent volunteers.
We urge you to maintain the bipartisan direction of the School Readiness Act (H.R. 2123) and reject any assault on civil rights protections in federally-funded programs, especially a program as critical as Head Start. This would destroy the bipartisan nature of a program in which the education of young children is so dependent on parent participation and on ongoing, close relationships with Head Start teachers.
Sincerely,
African American Ministers in Action
American Association of University Women
American Civil Liberties Union
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO
American Humanist Association
American Jewish Committee
Americans for Religious Liberty
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Anti-Defamation League
Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty
Central Conference of American Rabbis
Disciples Justice Action Network (Disciples of Christ)
Disciples Advocacy Washington Network
Christian Justice Action, United Church of Christ
Protestant Justice Action
Equal Partners in Faith
Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America
Human Rights Campaign
Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
National Association of Social Workers
National Council of Jewish Women
National Education Association
National Organization for Women
OMB Watch
People For the American Way
Presbyterian Church (USA), Washington Office
Service Employees International Union (SEIU), AFL-CIO, CLC
Texas Faith Network
Texas Freedom Network
The General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church
The Interfaith Alliance/Foundation
The Secular Coalition for America
Union for Reform Judaism
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
United Auto Workers, AFL-CIO
United Church of Christ Justice & Witness Ministries