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

September 19, 2005

 Allow Faith-Based Organizations to Do Even More; Restore the Constitutionally-Protected Hiring Rights of Faith-Based Head Start Providers

Support the Boustany Amendment to the School Readiness Act (H.R. 2123) 

Dear Colleague:

As residents of the Gulf Coast region move forward with the relief and recovery effort after Hurricane Katrina, our nation’s charitable organizations are playing the vital role they always do.  This is equally true for faith-based charitable organizations, whose efforts on behalf of the devastated areas have been readily apparent since the very first days after Katrina struck.  When helping their neighbors in need, faith-based groups consistently are at the forefront, and those impacted by the hurricane know firsthand the good work they do.

It doesn’t take a hurricane or another large-scale catastrophe to rally faith-based organizations into action, however.  These groups are working to assist their fellow Americans each and every day, focusing on issues from job training to child care – and everything in between.  President Bush has called them the “armies of compassion,” and these armies always are on the front lines when their nation needs them most, willing to do even more. 

This week, the House will vote on the School Readiness Act (H.R. 2123), legislation to reform and strengthen the federal early childhood education program, Head Start.  During debate, we will offer an amendment to correct a deficiency in current Head Start law that – in direct defiance of the 1964 Civil Rights Act – requires faith-based organizations to surrender their religious identities as a condition of serving Head Start children.  This is wrong.

Imagine faith-based groups being stopped at the Louisiana or Mississippi border and told they cannot serve their neighbors because of their religious affiliation.  Cries of outrage would ring out from the halls of Congress across the country.  The amendment we will offer later this week would permit faith-based organizations to serve Head Start students with the same care and compassion with which they are serving impacted areas on the Gulf Coast without being forced to surrender their constitutionally-protected hiring rights.  It’s as simple as that. 

During the week, you will hear and read a great deal of rhetoric on this issue.  Don’t be misled by shrill cries of “discrimination” that might be launched against this amendment.  Such wild accusations are a slap in the face to the faith-based organizations that are serving Americans from the Gulf Coast to the very communities each of us represent. 

We urge you to join us in supporting our amendment to H.R. 2123 that will make clear that faith-based organizations are not required to surrender their religious identities as a condition of serving Head Start children and families.  For further information on this issue, please contact the Education and the Workforce Committee majority staff at 5-4527.

Sincerely,