eligibility for assistance

eligibility for assistance Sec. 706. (a) (1) The Assistant Secretary is authorized to make a grant to, or a contract with, a local educational agency— (A) which is implementing a plan— (i) which has been undertaken pursuant to a final order issued by a court of the United States, or a court of any State, or any other State agency or official of competent jurisdiction, and which requires the desegregation of minority group segregated children or faculty in the elementary and secondary schools of such agency, or otherwise requires the elimination or reduction of minority group isolation in such schools; or (ii) which has been approved by the Secretary as adequate under title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for the desegregation of minority group segregated children or faculty in such schools; or (B) which, without having been required to do so, has adopted and is implementing, or will, if assistance is made available to it under this title, adopt and implement, a plan for the complete elimination of minority group isolation in all the minority group isolated schools of such agency; or (C) which has adopted and is implementing, or will, if assistance is made available to it under this Act, adopt and implement, a plan— (i) to eliminate or reduce minority group isolation in one or more of the minority group isolated schools of such agency, (ii) to reduce the total number of minority group children who are in minority group isolated schools of such agency, or (iii) to prevent minority group isolation reasonably likely to occur (in the absence or assistance under this title) in any school in such district in which school at least 20 per centum but not more than 50 per centum, of the enrollment consists of such children, or (D) which, without having been required to do so, has adopted and is implementing, or will, if assistance is made available to it under this title, adopt and implement a plan to enroll and educate in the schools of such agency children who would not otherwise be eligible for enrollment because of nonresidence in the school district of such agency, where such enrollment would make a significant contribution toward reducing minority group86 Stat. 357 isolation in one or more of the school districts to which such plan relates. (2) (A) The Assistant Secretary is authorized, in accordance with special eligibility criteria established by regulation for the purposes of this paragraph, to make grants to, and contracts with, local educational agencies for the purposes of section 709(a)(1). (B) A local educational agency shall be eligible for assistance under this paragraph only if— (i) such agency is located within, or adjacent to, a Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area; (ii) the schools of such agency are not attended by minority group children in a significant number or proportion; and (iii) such local educational agency has made mint arrangements with a local educational agency, located within that Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area, and the schools of which are attended by minority group children in a significant proportion, for the establishment or maintenance of one or more integrated schools as provided in section 720 (6). (3) Upon a determination by the Assistant Secretary— (i) that more than 50 per centum of the number of children in attendance at the schools of a local educational agency is minority group children; and (ii) that such local educational agency has applied for and will receive at least an equal amount of assistance under subsection (b); the Assistant Secretary is authorized to make a grant to, or contract with, such local educational agency for the establishment or maintenance of one or more integrated schools as defined in section 720(7). (b) The Assistant Secretary is authorized to make grants to, or contracts with, local educational agencies, which are eligible under subsection (a), for unusually promising pilot programs or projects designed to overcome the adverse effects of minority group isolation by improving the academic achievement of children m one or more minority group isolated schools, if he determines that the local educational agency had a number of minority group children enrolled in its schools, for the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year for which assistance is to be provided, which (1) is at least, 15,000, or (2) constitutes more than 50 per centum of the total number of children enrolled in such schools. (c) No local educational agency making application under this section shall be eligible to receive a grant or contract, in an amount in excess of the amount determined by the Assistant Secretary, in accordance with regulations setting forth criteria established for such purpose, to be the additional cost to the applicant arising out of activities authorized under this title, above that of the activities normally carried out by the local educational agency. (d) (1) No educational agency shall be eligible for assistance under this title if it has, after the date of enactment of this title— (A) transferred (directly or indirectly by gift, lease, loan, sale, or other means) real or personal property to, or made any services available to, any transferee which it knew or reasonably should have known to be a non public school or school system (or any organization controlling, or intending to establish, such a school or school system) without prior determination that such nonpublic school or school system (i) is not operated on a racially segregated basis as an alternative for children seeking to avoid attendance in desegregated public schools, and (ii) does not otherwise practice, or permit to be practiced, discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in the operation of any school activity; 86 Stat. 358 (B) had in effect any practice, policy, or procedure which results in the disproportionate demotion or dismissal of instructional or other personnel from minority groups in conjunction with desegregation or the implementation of any plan or the conduct of any activity described in this section, or otherwise engaged in discrimination based upon race, color, or national origin in the hiring, promotion, or assignment of employees of the agency (or other personnel for whom the agency has any administrative responsibility); (C) in conjunction with desegregation or the conduct of an activity described in this section, had in effect any procedure for the assignment of children to or within classes which results in the separation of minority group from nonminority group children for a substantial portion of the school day, except that this clause does not prohibit the use of bona fide ability grouping by a local educational agency as a standard pedagogical practice; or (D) had in effect any other practice, policy, or proved are, such us limiting curricular or extracurricular activities (or participation therein by children) in order to avoid the participation of minority group children in such activities, which discriminates among children on the basis of race, color, or national origin; except that, in the case of any local educational agency which is ineligible for assistance by reason of clause (A), (B), (C), or (D), such agency may make application for a waiver of ineligibility, which application shall specify the reason for its ineligibility, contain such information and assurances as the Secretary shall require by regulation in order to insure that any practice, policy, or procedure, or other activity resulting in the ineligibility has ceased to exist or occur and include such provisions as are necessary to insure that such activities do not reoccur after the submission of the application. (2) Applications for waivers under paragraph (1) may be approved only by the Secretary. The Secretary’s functions under this paragraph shall, notwithstanding any other provision of law, not be delegated. (3) Applications for waiver shall be granted by the Secretary upon determination that any practice, policy, procedure or other activity resulting in ineligibility has ceased to exist, and that the applicant has given satisfactory assurance that the activities prohibited in this subsection will not reoccur. (4) No application for assistance under this title shall be approved prior to a determination by the Secretary that the applicant is not ineligible by reason of this subsection. (5) All determinations pursuant to this subsection shall be carried out in accordance with criteria and investigative procedures established by regulations of the Secretary for the purpose of compliance with this subsection. (6) All determinations and waivers pursuant to this subsection shall be in writing. The Committee on Labor and Public Welfare of the Senate and the Committee on Education and Labor of the House of Representatives shall each be given notice of an intention to grant any waiver under this subsection, which notice shall be accompanied by a copy of the proposed waiver for which notice is given and copies of all determinations relating to such waiver. The Assistant Secretary shall not approve an application by a local educational agency which requires a waiver under this subsection prior to 15 days after receipt of the notice required by the preceding sentence by the chairman of the Committee on Labor and Public Welfare of the Senate and the chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor of the House of Representatives.