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Hate crimes prevention programs
have been included in education fund-
ing bills since 1994. Since then, the
Department of Education has spent
millions of dollars on different initia-
tives across the country.
"Tens of thousands of students have
been impacted by these programs," said
Michael Lieberman, Washington coun-
sel for the Anti-Defamation League.
Lieberman said the anti-bias and
hate crimes prevention programs are a
"critical component" of the current
law. Many educational and training
programs to reduce the incidence of
bias-motivated crimes have been
developed and piloted in local com-
munities nationwide.
Materials Developed
Also in use in schools are materials
that promote awareness of alternatives
to violence and improve conflict reso-
lution skills of students, teachers and
administrators.
Some anti-bias materials devel-
oped or produced by the
Department of Education include
"Healing the Hate," a national bias
crime prevention curriculum for
middle schools, and "Protecting
Students From Harassment and
Hate Crime," a resource guide for
teachers.
The ADL received a $200,000
grant from the Department of
Education to develop "Stop the Hate,"
a yearlong program designed to
inform school administrators about
hate crimes and instruct teachers in
the skills needed to combat prejudice
and discrimination. The program was
used in San Diego, Los Angeles, New
York and Omaha.
Federal funding for the programs is
intact on the Senate side because an
amendment to strip the hate crimes pre-
vention language out of the education
funding bill was defeated. On the House
side, however, the language has already
been stripped from the proposed legisla-
tion, so it must be reintroduced.
The House Education and
Workforce Committee debated the
Elementary and Secondary Education
Reauthorization Act last week. Rep.
Robert Scott (D-Va.) introduced an
amendment that would restore to the
Department of Education its authority
to fund hate crimes prevention pro-
grams, but the amendment was
defeated.
Scott had proposed that a certain
percentage of Safe and Drug-Free
Schools money be reserved for hate
crimes prevention programs to combat
prejudice and intolerance. The fund-
ing for that program accounts for
about $1 billion in state grants and
$20 million in national programs.
The bill now goes to the full
House.
Republicans say they want a "clean"
education bill and do not want the
focus of the debate turning to hate
crimes legislation, just as Democrat-
backed gun-safety amendments to the
bill have so far turned the debate
toward gun control.
Terminology is important but it
also causes a lot of the dispute, said
Niel Wright, press secretary for Rep.
Thomas Petri (R-Wis.), the Education
Committee's vice chairman.
"Hate crime sends up red flags,"
Wright said. Working to fund anti-
bias progiams in schools but leaving
out the term "hate crime" would be a
positive step, he added.
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Terminal Terminology?
Republicans are disingenuous when
they say they support anti-bias pro-
grams but only object to the terminol-
ogy, a Scott staffer says, because they
removed all references to prejudice
and discrimination in the bill as well.
Rep. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.),
who did not support Scott's amend-
ment, believes the Education
Committee is not the proper jurisdic-
tion to discuss hate crimes.
First, there needs to be agreement
on what constitutes a hate crime, said
Kevin Bishop, Graham's press secretary.
"Until we define what a hate crime
is, this effort put the cart before the
horse," he said.
Republicans have included in the pro-
posed legislation a new section that calls
for developing and implementing char-
acter education and training programs
that "incorporate elements of good char-
acter, including honesty, citizenship,
courage, justice, respect, personal respon-
sibility and trustworthiness."
Some Republican committee mem-
bers said they feel that encouraging
positive behaviors is "a lot more
important than highlighting negative
ones," said Dan Lara, the Education
Committee's press secretary.
Theoretically, money could be
directed to hate crimes prevention
programs under that provision, but
the programs could have difficulty
securing funding because money for
anti-bias initiatives would not be men-
tioned specifically.
"Why not call it what it is?"
Lieberman asked. "There really is a
bias crime problem." ❑
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