COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

September 21, 2005

 Boustany Amendment to the School Readiness Act is Offered in the Spirit of the 1964 Civil Rights Act 

Dear Colleague:

Throughout the week, we have made it clear that the Boustany amendment to the School Readiness Act (H.R. 2123) is offered in the spirit of 1964 Civil Rights Act.  This law guarantees faith-based groups the federally protected right to maintain their religious nature and character through those they hire.  These organizations are willing to serve their communities by participating in federal programs, and they should not be forced to give up that right. 

We thought it might be worthwhile to pinpoint the language that provides religious organizations this protection under federal law.  Section 702(a) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended in 1972 (42 U.S.C. § 2000e-1(a)) states:

“This subchapter shall not apply to an employer with respect to the employment of aliens outside any State, or to a religious corporation, association, educational institution, or society with respect to the employment of individuals of a particular religion to perform work connected with the carrying on by such corporation, association, educational institution, or society of its activities.”

Clearly, the authors of the Civil Rights Act, both Republican and Democrat, believed it was critically important to protect the rights of faith-based organizations to exercise their civil liberties by taking religion into account in their hiring practices. 

After reviewing this, you can see that President Clinton was on solid ground in signing the 1996 welfare reform law (the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act of 1996), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (through the Children’s Health Act of 2000), the Community Services Block Grant Act of 1998, and the Community Renewal Tax Relief Act of 2000 – each of which contained language similar to the Boustany amendment.

Any federal legislation governing federal social service funds – including the School Readiness Act – should continue to protect the rights of religious organizations when they take part in federal social service efforts, such as Head Start.

America’s faith-based institutions have proven track records in meeting the needs of children and families in our communities.  We hope you will join us in protecting the rights of faith-based institutions by supporting the Boustany Amendment and the School Readiness Act.

Sincerely,