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

III. Distribution of Federal Financial Assistance and Other Funds for Vocational Education

A. Agency Responsibilities

Recipients that administer grants for vocational education must distribute Federal, State, or local vocational education funds so that no student or group of students is unlawfully denied an equal opportunity to benefit from vocational education on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, or handicap.

B. Distribution of Funds

Recipients may not adopt a formula or other method for the allocation of Federal, State, or local vocational education funds that has the effect of discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, or handicap. However, a recipient may adopt a formula or other method of allocation that uses as a factor race, color, national origin, sex, or handicap [or an index or proxy for race, color, national origin, sex, or handicap e.g., number of persons receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children or with limited English speaking ability] if the factor is included to compensate for past discrimination or to comply with those provisions of the Vocational Education Amendments of 1976 designed to assist specified protected groups.

C. Example of a Pattern Suggesting Unlawful Discrimination

In each State it is likely that some local recipients will enroll greater proportions of minority students in vocational education than the State-wide proportion of minority students in vocational education. A funding formula or other method of allocation that results in such local recipients receiving per-pupil allocations of Federal or State vocational education funds lower than the State-wide average per-pupil allocation will be presumed unlawfully discriminatory.

D. Distribution Through Competitive Grants or Contracts

Each State agency that establishes criteria for awarding competitive vocational education grants or contracts must establish and apply the criteria without regard to the race, color, national origin, sex, or handicap of any or all of a recipient's students, except to compensate for past discrimination.

E. Application Processes for Competitive or Discretionary Grants

State agencies must disseminate information needed to satisfy the requirements of any application process for competitive or discretionary grants so that all recipients, including those having a high percentage of minority or handicapped students, are informed of and able to seek funds. State agencies that provide technical assistance for the completion of the application process must provide such assistance without discrimination against any one recipient or class of recipients.

F. Alteration of Fund Distribution to Provide Equal Opportunity

If the Office for Civil Rights finds that a recipient's system for distributing vocational education funds unlawfully discriminates on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, or handicap, it will require the recipient to adopt an alternative nondiscriminatory method of distribution. The Office for Civil Rights may also require the recipient to compensate for the effects of its past unlawful discrimination in the distribution of funds.