Appendix B to 34 CFR Part 104—Guidelines for Eliminating Discrimination and Denial of Services on the Basis of Race, Color, National Origin, Sex, and Handicap in Vocational Education Programs

II. Responsibilities Assigned Only to State Agency Recipients

A. Responsibilities of All State Agency Recipients

State agency recipients, in addition to complying with all other provisions of the Guidelines relevant to them, may not require, approve of, or engage in any discrimination or denial of services on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, or handicap in performing any of the following activities:

1. Establishment of criteria or formulas for distribution of Federal or State funds to vocational education programs in the State;

2. Establishment of requirements for admission to or requirements for the administration of vocational education programs;

3. Approval of action by local entities providing vocational education. (For example, a State agency must ensure compliance with Section IV of these Guidelines if and when it reviews a vocational education agency decision to create or change a geographic service area.);

4. Conducting its own programs. (For example, in employing its staff it may not discriminate on the basis of sex or handicap.)

B. State Agencies Performing Oversight Responsibilities

The State agency responsible for the administration of vocational education programs must adopt a compliance program to prevent, identify and remedy discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex or handicap by its subrecipients. (A “subrecipient,” in this context, is a local agency or vocational education center that receives financial assistance through a State agency.) This compliance program must include:

1. Collecting and analyzing civil rights related data and information that subrecipients compile for their own purposes or that are submitted to State and Federal officials under existing authorities;

2. Conducting periodic compliance reviews of selected subrecipients (i.e., an investigation of a subrecipient to determine whether it engages in unlawful discrimination in any aspect of its program); upon finding unlawful discrimination, notifying the subrecipient of steps it must take to attain compliance and attempting to obtain voluntary compliance;

3. Providing technical assistance upon request to subrecipients. This will include assisting subrecipients to identify unlawful discrimination and instructing them in remedies for and prevention of such discrimination;

4. Periodically reporting its activities and findings under the foregoing paragraphs, including findings of unlawful discrimination under paragraph 2, immediately above, to the Office for Civil Rights.

State agencies are not required to terminate or defer assistance to any subrecipient. Nor are they required to conduct hearings. The responsibilities of the Office for Civil Rights to collect and analyze data, to conduct compliance reviews, to investigate complaints and to provide technical assistance are not diminished or attenuated by the requirements of Section II of the Guidelines.

C. Statement of Procedures and Practices

Within one year from the publication of these Guidelines in final form, each State agency recipient performing oversight responsibilities must submit to the Office for Civil Rights the methods of administration and related procedures it will follow to comply with the requirements described in paragraphs A and B immediately above. The Department will review each submission and will promptly either approve it, or return it to State officials for revision.