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Bill Allows Religious GRoups To Be Exempt from Federal Non-Discrimination Hiring Policies
(CNSNews.com) - A House bill that would allow religious organizations involved in the Head Start pre-school program to be exempt from federal non-discrimination hiring policies is under attack by liberal groups.
The liberals say the legislation would endanger the jobs of 50,000 teachers by allowing organizations to fire them because of their religious backgrounds or cultural lifestyles.
Head Start, a taxpayer-funded program, serves 900,000 pre-school children from disadvantaged families nationwide. It attempts to give the children the same learning momentum that kids from wealthier families enjoy before entering kindergarten.
Although some local Head Start programs take place in "houses of worship" or are operated by local church groups, the program is intended to be free of religion, said Michael McGrady, deputy director of the National Head Start Association.
Since 1981, federal non-discrimination hiring policies have guaranteed that no person could be excluded on the basis of his or her religious background.
But H.R. 2210, "The School Readiness Act of 2003," would provide exemptions to those federal hiring policies. The bill was proposed by U.S. Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) on May 22 and passed the U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee on June 18. It is unclear when the bill will come before the full House.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AU) and the Coalition Against Religious Discrimination (CARD) are among the liberal groups opposed to the bill. They are also against President Bush's "faith-based initiative," which contained the same hiring exemptions for religious groups until it was watered down and the hiring provision stripped from the Senate version.
On June 17, AU and CARD sent a letter to members of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, expressing concern that Head Start teachers faced the potential of losing their jobs if H.R. 2210 became law. Some of the 870,000 parents who volunteer for Head Start might also be prevented from participating, the groups said.
"There is no need to allow Head Start providers to restrict the hiring on the basis of religion because it's not a religious program," said Rob Boston, spokesman for AU.
But David Barton, president of the conservative group Wallbuilders, said the Castle bill is actually a step toward preventing government discrimination of religious groups.
Barton said the bill would allow faith-based institutions the chance to shape the character of their local programs through their hiring. He added that the legislation is consistent with other rights enjoyed by Americans.
"We have the right of association and to choose who we want around us, in our operations and functions," Barton said.
McGrady said he believes the Castle bill would impose limits on Head Start and convert it into a program that discriminates.
"There will be teachers in the Head Start program who will be terminated because they are 'not the right religion,'" McGrady said. "This will not only be detrimental to the teacher and the community, but the Head Start children as well because it sends a message to the children that if they're not of the same religion, there is no place for them in this community.
"That makes no sense," Boston said. "It's sort of like saying that public schools could restrict their hiring on the basis of religion, and there's no reason for that. There is no religious component in public education, and there isn't in Head Start, either."
Parker Hamilton, a spokeswoman for the House Education and the Workforce Committee, denied that the bill in question contained anything new or illegal.
The idea for faith-based hiring at Head Start is basically an extension of previous legislative ventures and is in line with previous U.S. Supreme Court rulings, Hamilton said.
Faith-based hiring was upheld by the Supreme Court in the 1988 Bowen v. Kendrick case. Hamilton also pointed out that President Bill Clinton signed four different federal laws allowing faith-based organizations the right to hire staff on a religious basis - the Welfare Reform Act, the Community Services Block Grant Act, the Community Renewal Tax Relief Act and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
"Many of these faith-based groups decide to participate in the organization because of their religion," she said. "We think they ought to have the right to hire the people they choose," Hamilton said.
Although Castle's bill would affect the staffing of organizations providing Head Start services, Hamilton said the educational structure of the program would remain unchanged. Religious teachings would continue to be excluded from the curriculum, she said.
"There are already standards in place," Hamilton said. "I don't see how changing the hiring practices would affect that."
However, Boston of AU said Congress would be better off taking steps to recruit more people for Head Start.
"It's a pretty popular program, and there are more people in it than can be served," he said. "We ought to be looking at ways to expand the program and get more people involved, and not put in place policies that might drive some people out."
— Danielle Gillespie
Bill Would Ease Hiring Practices for Faith-Based Head Start Providers
CNSNews.com
June 23, 2003
http://www.conservativenews.org/ViewCulture.asp?Page=\\Culture\\archive\\200306\\CUL20030623d.html
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