Frank Riggs: “I just, first of all, want to thank the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) for what I think is a good-faith decision on…”

“I just, first of all, want to thank the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) for what I think is a good-faith decision on his part to raise this issue for debate but perhaps not to pursue an amendment. We disagree on, if you will, the origin and the mechanism by which so many of these compliance agreements have come into being. We have heard testimony from a variety of people, including local school board members. We had a particular witness who was galvanized by the clash between the Federal Department of Education Office of Civil Rights in the Denver school district to ultimately run successfully for the local school board. She testified at our hearing. But we heard from other witnesses as well, a long-time employee of the Office of Civil Rights, that they felt the Office of Civil Rights used coercive tactics to force local school districts into entering into these compliance agreements or else face the alternative of very costly, extensive, and time-consuming litigation. As we have heard earlier today, during the period between 1975 and 1980, some 500-plus agreements were initiated by the Office of Civil Rights, and today there are 228 in force.”