Equal Educational Opportunities Act

Equal Education Opportunities Act - Declares it to be the policy of the United States that: (1) all children enrolled in public schools are entitled to equal educational opportunity without regard to race, color, or national origin; and (2) the neighborhood is an appropriate basis for determining public school assignments.

Declares it to be the purpose of this Act to provide Federal financial assistance for educationally deprived students and to specify appropriate remedies for the orderly removal of the vestiges of the dual school system.

Title I: Assistance - Provides that the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and the Commissioner of Education, in administering title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and any program designed to assist local educational agencies in achieving desegregation or preventing, reducing, or eliminating isolation based on race, color, or national origin in the public schools, shall take such action consistent with the provisions of this title to provide assistance under such programs in such a manner as to concentrate the funds available for carrying out such programs for the provision of basic instructional services and basic supportive services for educationally deprived students.

Provides that a local educational agency shall be eligible for such assistance under such programs if it: (1) operates a school in which a substantial proportion of the students enrolled are from low-income families; and (2) provides assurances satisfactory to the Secretary that services provided from State and local funds with respect to each such school will be at least comparable to the services provided from such funds with respect to the other schools of such agency.

Provides that nothing in this title shall be construed to authorize the Secretary or the Commissioner to alter the amount of grants or the basis for funds appropriated under pre-existing programs.

Title II: Unlawful Practices - Provides that no State shall deny equal educational opportunity to an individual on account of his race, color, or national origin. Provides that the failure of an educational agency to attain or balance, on the basis of race, color, or national origin, students among its schools shall not constitute a denial of equal educational opportunity, or equal protection of the laws.

Title III: Enforcement - Provides that an individual denied an equal educational opportunity may institute civil action in an appropriate district court of the United States against such parties, and for such relief, as may be appropriate. Authorizes the Attorney General to intervene in such an action, but only after he: (1) gives to the appropriate educational agency notice of the condition or conditions which, in his judgment, constitute a violation of this Act; and (2) certifies to the appropriate district court of the United States that he is satisfied that such educational agency has not, within a reasonable time after such notice, undertaken appropriate remedial action.

Title IV Remedies - Provides that in formulating a remedy for a denial of equal educational opportunity or a denial of the equal protection of the laws, a court, department, or agency of the United States shall seek or impose only such remedies as are essential to correct particular denials of equal educational opportunity or equal protection of the laws.

Provides that no court, department, or agency of the United States shall order, in pursuance of the above, the implementation of a plan that would require an increase for any school year in: (1) either the average daily distance to be traveled by, or the average daily time of travel for, all students transported by an educational agency over the comparable averages for the preceding school year; or (2) the average daily number of students transported by an educational agency over the comparable average for the preceding school year, disregarding the transportation of any student which results from a change in such student's residence, his advancement to a higher level of education, or his attendance at a school operated by an educational agency for the first time.

Provides that in the formulation of remedies under this Act, the lines drawn by a State, subdividing its territory into separate school districts, shall not be ignored or altered except where it is established that the lines were drawn for the purpose, and had the effect, of segregating children among public schools on the basis of race, color, or national origin.

Title V: Definitions - Provides that expenditures for basic instructional services or basic supportive services do not include expenditures for administration, operation and maintenance of plant, or for capital outlay, or such other expenditures as the Secretary may prescribe.