[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 37 (Thursday, February 24, 1994)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 9061-9063]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-4472]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: February 24, 1994]
_______________________________________________________________________
Part V
The President
_______________________________________________________________________
Executive Order 12900--
Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans
Presidential Documents
Federal Register
Vol. 59, No. 37
Thursday, February 24, 1994
____________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
Executive Order 12900 of February 22, 1994
Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, and in order to advance the development of
human potential, to strengthen the Nation's capacity to
provide high-quality education, and to increase
opportunities for Hispanic Americans to participate in
and benefit from Federal education programs, it is
hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. There shall be established in the Department
of Education the President's Advisory Commission on
Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans
(Commission). The Commission shall consist of not more
than 25 members, who shall be appointed by the
President and shall report to the Secretary of
Education (Secretary). The Commission shall comprise
representatives who: (a) have a history of involvement
with the Hispanic community; (b) are from the
education, civil rights, and business communities; or
(c) are from civic associations representing the
diversity within the Hispanic community. In addition,
the President may appoint other representatives as he
deems appropriate.
Sec. 2. The Commission shall provide advice to the
President and the Secretary on: (a) the progress of
Hispanic Americans toward achievement of the National
Education Goals and other standards of educational
accomplishment; (b) the development, monitoring, and
coordination of Federal efforts to promote high-quality
education for Hispanic Americans; (c) ways to increase
State, private sector, and community involvement in
improving education; and (d) ways to expand and
complement Federal education initiatives. The
Commission shall provide advice to the President
through the Secretary.
Sec. 3. There shall be established in the Department of
Education the White House Initiative on Educational
Excellence for Hispanic Americans (Initiative). The
Initiative shall be an interagency working group
coordinated by the Department of Education and shall be
headed by a Director, who shall be a senior level
Federal official. It shall provide the staff,
resources, and assistance for the Commission and shall
serve the Secretary in carrying out his or her
responsibilities under this order. The Initiative is
authorized to utilize the services, personnel,
information, and facilities of other Federal, State,
and local agencies with their consent, and with or
without reimbursement, consistent with applicable law.
To the extent permitted by law and regulations, each
Federal agency shall cooperate in providing resources,
including personnel detailed to the Initiative, to meet
the objectives of this order. The Initiative shall
include both career civil service and appointed staff
with expertise in the area of education, and shall
provide advice to the Secretary on the implementation
and coordination of education and related programs
across Executive agencies.
Sec. 4. Each Executive department and each agency
designated by the Secretary shall appoint a senior
official, who is a full-time officer of the Federal
Government and responsible for management or program
administration, to report directly to the agency head
on activity under this Executive order and to serve as
liaison to the Commission and the Initiative. To the
extent permitted by law and to the extent practicable,
each Executive department and designated agency shall
provide any appropriate information requested by the
Commission or the staff of the Initiative, including
data relating to the eligibility for and participation
by Hispanic Americans in Federal education programs and
the progress of Hispanic Americans in relation to the
National Education Goals. Where adequate data is not
available, the Commission shall suggest the means of
collecting the data.
Sec. 5. The Secretary, in consultation with the
Commission, shall submit to the President an Annual
Federal Plan to Promote Hispanic American Educational
Excellence (Annual Federal Plan, or Plan). All actions
described in the Plan shall be designed to help
Hispanic Americans attain the educational improvement
targets set forth in the National Education Goals and
any standards established by the National Education
Standards and Improvement Council. The Plan shall
include data on eligibility for, and participation by,
Hispanic Americans in Federal education programs, and
such other aspects of the educational status of
Hispanic Americans as the Secretary considers
appropriate. This Plan also shall include, as an
appendix, the text of the agency plans described in
section 6 of this order. The Secretary, in consultation
with the Commission and with the assistance of the
Initiative staff, shall ensure that superintendents of
Hispanic-serving school districts, presidents of
Hispanic-serving institutions of higher education,
directors of educational programs for Hispanic
Americans, and other appropriate individuals are given
the opportunity to comment on the proposed Annual
Federal Plan. For purposes of this order, a ``Hispanic-
serving'' school district or institution of higher
education is any local education agency or institution
of higher education, respectively, whose student
population is more than 25 percent Hispanic.
Sec. 6. As part of the development of the Annual
Federal Plan, each Executive department and each
designated agency (hereinafter in this section referred
to collectively as ``agency'') shall prepare a plan
for, and shall document, both that agency's effort to
increase Hispanic American participation in Federal
education programs where Hispanic Americans currently
are underserved, and that agency's effort to improve
educational outcomes for Hispanic Americans
participating in Federal education programs. This plan
shall address, among other relevant issues: (a) the
elimination of unintended regulatory barriers to
Hispanic American participation in Federal education
programs; (b) the adequacy of announcements of program
opportunities of interest to Hispanic-serving school
districts, institutions of higher education, and
agencies; and (c) ways of eliminating educational
inequalities and disadvantages faced by Hispanic
Americans. It also shall emphasize the facilitation of
technical, planning, and development advice to
Hispanic-serving school districts and institutions of
higher education. Each agency's plan shall provide
appropriate measurable objectives for proposed actions
aimed at increasing Hispanic American participation in
Federal education programs where Hispanic Americans
currently are underserved. After the first year, each
agency's plan also shall assess that agency's
performance on the goals set in the previous year's
annual plan. These plans shall be submitted by a date
and time to be established by the Secretary.
Sec. 7. The Director of the Office of Personnel
Management, in consultation with the Secretary and the
Secretary of Labor, to the extent permitted by law,
shall develop a program to promote recruitment of
Hispanic students for part-time, summer, and permanent
positions in the Federal Government.
Sec. 8. I have determined that the Commission shall be
established in compliance with the Federal Advisory
Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. App. 2).
Notwithstanding any other Executive order, the
responsibilities of the President under the Federal
Advisory Committee Act, as amended, shall be performed
by the Secretary, in accordance with the guidelines and
procedures established by the Administrator of General
Services.
Sec. 9. Administration. (a) Members of the Commission
shall serve without compensation, but shall be allowed
travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of
subsistence, as authorized by law for persons serving
intermittently in the Government service (5 U.S.C.
5701-5707).
(b) The Commission and the Initiative shall obtain
funding for their activities from the Department of
Education.
(c) The Department of Education shall provide such
administrative services for the Commission as may be
required.
Sec. 10. Executive Order No. 12729 is revoked.
(Presidential Sig.)>
THE WHITE HOUSE,
February 22, 1994.
[FR Doc. 94-4472
Filed 2-23-94; 11:35 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P
Editorial note: For the President's remarks on signing
this Executive order, see the Weekly Compilation of
Presidential Documents (vol. 30, no. 8).