Lawmakers endorse after-school services

WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers handed a victory to President Bush's effort to give religious organizations access to federal funding by endorsing their involvement in after-school activities at public schools.

A bipartisan House-Senate conference committee approved the after-school language unanimously and without debate Tuesday.

Congress has been working on an overhaul of federal education policies since last winter. The panel is working out differences in versions approved by the House and the Senate. Lawmakers hope to present Bush with a finished bill by the end of October.

Tuesday's voice vote, on a small part of the bill, cleared what has proved a contentious point.

Under its provisions, the federal before- and after-school program would be modified so that education departments in the 50 states would decide which programs are financed. School districts now apply directly to the U.S. Education Department.

The change would favor programs in which school districts collaborate with community organizations, including religious groups. It also would favor projects that focus on academics.

Bush has championed opening up more federal programs to religious organizations, so far with mixed results.

The House approved legislation this year to open 10 domestic programs, including GED preparation courses, to such groups. But passage came only after a heated fight and on a mostly party-line vote. And the proposal has yet to be introduced in the Senate.

Opponents worry tax dollars will wind up paying for programs that discriminate against employees based on religion, and that participants could be forced to participate in religious programs they find objectionable.

Religious organizations that receive the federal after-school funding would have to comply with the same hiring and civil rights rules as school districts, congressional aides said Tuesday.