The Biden administration has yet to discover an opportunity to exert federal control over Americans' lives that it didn't jump at, proven again by recent guidance from the Department of Education directing federal funds to be withheld from school archery programs, hunter safety training, and other extracurricular activities that are apparently inappropriate in the eyes of the Biden administration.
This latest out-of-touch policy from the Biden Education Department is not going unnoticed or unchallenged by U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) who is enacting oversight of the Biden administration's decision and pursuing a reversal of what she sees as a wrongful interpretation of congressional intent.
The guidance from the Department of Education is based on the implementation of of the "Bipartisan Safer Communities Act" which included amending the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to prohibit ESEA funds from being used to provide any person with a dangerous weapon or training to use a dangerous weapon, defined in federal law as "a weapon, device, instrument, material, or substance, animate or inanimate, that is used for, or is readily capable of, causing death or serious bodily injury, except that such term does not include a pocket knife with a blade of less than 2 1/2 inches in length."
The Biden administration has applied these laws to mean no ESEA funding can go toward for archery education, hunting education, etc. despite the fact that the wording they're drawing from and the context they're applying also means that funding should not be used for some sports equipment such as baseball bats, common tools used in shop classes including chisels, saws, hammers, or axes, nor for knives, meat tenderizers, or other kitchen utensils needed for cooking classes.
"The Biden administration is attempting to defund archery and hunter safety programs at our schools, and on behalf of Iowans, I’m fighting back," Ernst said of her action opposing the federal guidance. "This is a direct contradiction of Congress’ intent in pursuit of President Biden’s unconstitutional, anti-gun agenda," she added.
Ernst fired off a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona this week expressing her issues with his agency's guidance, saying the federal edict was accompanied by "concerning" encouragement for state and local education officials to "seek alternative sources of funding for archery and hunting educational enrichment programs," endangering the "important role these enrichment programs can play in students' lives."
Reminding Sec. Cardona that archery "is an inclusive extracurricular activity that empowers students from all backgrounds to learn a sport and compete," Ernst noted that hunter safety programs "play an important role in teaching safety, wildlife management, landowner relations, and personal responsibility to students." Armed with the numbers, Ernst emphasized that more than 600,000 American students "are trained and certified annually" and pointed to research that shows, "due to the increased participation in hunters safety courses, the instance of hunting related injuries have significantly decreased over the last 50 years."
In another letter this week to Senate appropriators, Ernst demanded that wording be made clear in FY2024 funding that "school districts may continue to use their Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) funding to provide educational enrichment programs and activities, including hunter, outdoor, archery, and culinary education" to stop the Biden administration's efforts to undermine such programs.
Ernst is also backing the just-introduced Allowing for Recreational Resources for Outdoor Wellness (ARROW) Act, a piece of legislation led by Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) that would formally amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to create an exception to the "dangerous weapon" funding prohibition by adding language stating such a ban "shall not apply to the use of funds under this Act for sports clubs, teams, training, or related activities provided for students."
"The Biden administration’s action could eliminate opportunities for students in Iowa schools to learn safe and responsible firearm handling, lessons about the recreational shooting sports, and experience the outdoors," Ernst further explained. "This is completely out of touch with Iowa, where we appreciate and participate in this recreation, and our students should not be forced to miss out."
It's not just Iowa, either, where the Biden administration's guidance would remove valuable extracurricular options for students. According to the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, "[m]ore than 2 million students in 47 states, 8 provinces and 11 countries participate in the National Archery in Schools Program® (NASP®) annually.
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