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City debates Scouts gay ban
A local debate over gay rights, the Boy Scouts, the military and federal funding for education came to a boil Monday night at a meeting of the Peace and Justice Commission.
The debate centered on portions of the “No Child Left Behind” law, signed by President Bush in January, which require school districts to provide military recruiters with high school students’ contact information, and the Boy Scouts with meeting space on school grounds.
A failure to provide meeting space, under the new law, will result in the loss of federal education funding, which flows into the Berkeley Unified School District to the tune of $6 to $8 million per year.
Current district policy may conflict with the federal law. The district limits military recruiters’ access to students and does not allow groups that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation to use school facilities.
