IV 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 902 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the obligation 
of the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education and 
the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice to enforce title 
VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its implementing regulations, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 17, 2018 
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia (for himself, Mr. NADLER, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. HOYER, 
Mr. CLYBURN, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. RICHMOND, Ms. 
MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New Mexico, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. DANNY 
K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. WILSON of Florida, 
Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Mr. GRIJALVA, and Mr. 
SOTO) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Education 
and the Workforce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regard-
ing the obligation of the Office for Civil Rights of the 
Department of Education and the Civil Rights Division 
of the Department of Justice to enforce title VI of the 
Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its implementing regula-
tions, and for other purposes. 
Whereas 64 years ago, in the case of Brown v. Board of Edu-
cation of Topeka, Kansas, a unanimous Supreme Court 
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held that segregated school systems based on race are in-
herently unequal and violate the 14th amendment to the 
Constitution; 
Whereas the Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 
in part, to address ‘‘Massive Resistance’’, a collection of 
State laws passed in response to the Brown decision that 
aggressively tried to forestall and prevent school integra-
tion, and the ‘‘Declaration of Constitutional Principles’’ 
(known colloquially as the ‘‘Southern Manifesto’’) signed 
on March 12, 1956, by Members of the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Senate that attacked the decision 
and opposed integrated schools; 
Whereas title VI of that law prohibits programs and activities 
that receive Federal funds from discriminating based on 
race, color, or national origin; 
Whereas former President John F. Kennedy eloquently ex-
plained the need for title VI by stating that ‘‘[s]imple 
justice requires that public funds, to which all taxpayers 
of all races contribute, not be spent in any fashion which 
encourages, entrenches, subsidizes, or results in racial 
discrimination. Direct discrimination by Federal, State, 
or local governments is prohibited by the Constitution. 
But, indirect discrimination, through the use of Federal 
funds, is just as invidious; and it should not be necessary 
to resort to the courts to prevent each individual viola-
tion.’’; 
Whereas racial discrimination in educational systems con-
tinues, as demonstrated by, among others, a recent appel-
late court decision holding that a White community’s at-
tempt to secede from a majority Black Alabama school 
district was racially discriminatory in violation of the 
Constitution, and a recent Department of Education Of-
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fice for Civil Rights resolution of a complaint filed 
against Durham Public Schools in North Carolina re-
garding discrimination against Black students and stu-
dents with disabilities in the application of school dis-
cipline requiring Durham Public Schools to take actions 
to end discriminatory discipline practices; 
Whereas recent reports by the Government Accountability Of-
fice and other national reports detail racial disparities in 
the Nation’s educational systems as follows: 
(1) The percentage of schools that are isolated by 
poverty and race increased from 9 percent during the 
2000–2001 school year to 16 percent during the 2013– 
2014 school year. 
(2) High-poverty schools that are majority Black 
and Latino are less likely to offer a range of math 
courses and such lack of access is linked to lower comple-
tion rates for higher-level math and science courses in 
high school, which is a critical component of preparing 
students for college and careers. 
(3) Only 12 percent of students took AP courses at 
high-poverty schools that are majority Black and Latino 
and offer such courses, compared to 24 percent of all stu-
dents in low-poverty schools with lower Black and Latino 
enrollment. 
(4) Students of color on average have lower enroll-
ment in prekindergarten programs, and attend lower 
quality prekindergarten programs, than their White 
peers. 
(5) Black students are disproportionately excluded 
from school, beginning as early as preschool, and stu-
dents who are suspended are more likely to fail a grade, 
drop out of school, and become involved in the juvenile 
justice system. 
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(6) With few exceptions, Black students, boys, and 
students with disabilities experience disparities in the ad-
ministration of school discipline, regardless of the type of 
disciplinary action, poverty level of the school, or type of 
public school attended. 
(7) Research suggests that implicit biases—stereo-
types or unconscious associations that people, including 
teachers and other school staff, hold about other people— 
are a contributing factor to these discipline disparities be-
cause they cause school staff to judge students differently 
based on their race. 
Whereas the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of 
Education and the Civil Rights Division of the Depart-
ment of Justice are charged with enforcing title VI and 
its regulations, which prohibit both intentional discrimi-
nation and unintentional discrimination resulting from 
policies and practices that have a discriminatory effect, 
or disparate impact, on students based on race, color, or 
national origin; and 
Whereas the Supreme Court’s decision in Alexander v. 
Sandoval overturned four decades of statutory protections 
against discrimination by removing a private right of ac-
tion under title VI to challenge disparate impact, leaving 
Federal agencies as the only entities that can enforce dis-
parate impact regulations, a duty acknowledged by both 
Democratic and Republican administrations: Now, there-
fore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) reaffirms its commitment to ensuring that 
the educational systems of the United States prepare 
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all students for college and career regardless of their 
race, color, or national origin; 
(2) recognizes that the Office for Civil Rights 
of the Department of Education and the Civil Rights 
Division of the Department of Justice have an obli-
gation to enforce title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 
1964 and its implementing regulations; 
(3) expects the Department of Education and 
the Department of Justice to enforce title VI of the 
Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its implementing regu-
lations, as they have done in the past under Demo-
cratic and Republican administrations, using all 
legal theories, including different treatment and dis-
parate impact, given the growing evidence that racial 
discrimination in education continues; 
(4) will hold oversight hearings to ensure that 
the Department of Education and the Department 
of Justice enforce title VI of the of the Civil Rights 
Act of 1964 and its implementing regulations, in-
cluding enforcement with respect to unintentional 
discrimination resulting from policies and practices 
that have a discriminatory effect, or disparate im-
pact, on students based on race, color, or national 
origin; and 
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(5) commits to considering H.R. 2486, the Eq-
uity and Inclusion Enforcement Act, a bill that re-
stores the title VI right to individual civil actions in 
cases involving disparate impact, creates title VI 
monitors to ensure that every school has at least one 
employee responsible for investigating any com-
plaints of discrimination based on race, color, or na-
tional origin, and creates a position of Assistant Sec-
retary in the Department of Education to coordinate 
and promote title VI enforcement of equity and in-
clusion in education. 
Æ 
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