[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 8 (Monday, February 28, 1994)]
[Pages 346-348]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Executive Order 12900--Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans

February 22, 1994

    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

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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

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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.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
February 22, 1994.

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 11:35 a.m., February 23, 
1994]

Note: This Executive order was published in the Federal Register on 
February 24.