Title 20EducationRelease 119-73

§1757 Prohibition of forced busing during school year

Title 20 › Chapter CHAPTER 39— - EQUAL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES AND TRANSPORTATION OF STUDENTS › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— - ASSIGNMENT AND TRANSPORTATION OF STUDENTS › § 1757

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Federal courts and agencies cannot require students to be moved from one school to another for racial desegregation in the middle of an academic year. Any order that makes a student be transported to another elementary or secondary school in a local school district for desegregation must wait until the beginning of an academic school year, even if other laws say otherwise. Congress said forced moves are controversial and that moving students after classes start is bad for learning and hard to manage. The Education Secretary will set rules for what counts as the "beginning of an academic school year" (the usual first day of classes, occurring no more than once every 12 months). This rule also covers any order that was not put into effect at the start of the 1974–1975 school year.

Full Legal Text

Title 20, §1757

Education — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Congress finds that—
(1)the forced transportation of elementary and secondary school students in implementation of the constitutional requirement for the desegregation of such schools is controversial and difficult under the best planning and administration; and
(2)the forced transportation of elementary and secondary school students after the commencement of an academic school year is educationally unsound and administratively inefficient.
(b)Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, no order of a court, department, or agency of the United States, requiring the transportation of any student incident to the transfer of that student from one elementary or secondary school to another such school in a local educational agency pursuant to a plan requiring such transportation for the racial desegregation of any school in that agency, shall be effective until the beginning of an academic school year.
(c)For the purpose of this section, the term “academic school year” means, pursuant to regulations promulgated by the Secretary, the customary beginning of classes for the school year at an elementary or secondary school of a local educational agency for a school year that occurs not more often than once in any twelve-month period.
(d)The provisions of this section apply to any order which was not implemented at the beginning of the 1974–1975 academic year.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective on and after sixtieth day after Aug. 21, 1974, see section 2(c) of Pub. L. 93–380, set out as a note under section 1221–1 of this title.

Transfer of Functions

“Secretary”, meaning the Secretary of Education, substituted for “Commissioner” in subsec. (c) pursuant to section 301(a)(1) and 507 of Pub. L. 96–88, which are classified to section 3441(a)(1) and 3507 of this title and which transferred functions of Commissioner of Education to Secretary of Education.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

20 U.S.C. § 1757

Title 20Education

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73