The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act has been receiving a fair amount of bipartisan push back based on recent media reports that the law has allowed the Biden Administration to cut funding from school archery and hunter education programs. The controversy has left local school archery coaches asking, “What funding?”

In June 2022, 15 Senate Republicans and 14 House Republicans, worked across party lines to approve the first federal gun safety regulations since the Federal Assault Weapons Ban in 1994. In response to mass shooting last year in Buffalo, New York, Uvalde, Texas and Tulsa, Oklahoma the law implements gun control laws such as extending background checks for firearm purchases to those under the age of 21, incentivizes state red flag laws and puts stricter penalties on interstate arms trafficking and straw purchases.

The law also made amendments to the Prohibited Uses of Funds section of the Early and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to prevent the use of its funds to “provide to any person a dangerous weapon or training in the use of a dangerous weapon.” Based on the understood definition of “dangerous weapon” the DOE has said this would include archery programs, hunter education courses and school sanctioned shooting clubs.

Citing a portion of the guidance issued by the U.S Department of Education in Nov. 2022 clarifying if funds may be used to “arm teachers or other individuals, or to provide training in the use of weapons,” a number of media outlets and lawmakers began pushing claims of sweeping funding cuts.

“The Biden administration is DEFUNDING school hunting and archery programs. Yes, you read that right — DEFUNDING them.” Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.) tweeted on Friday, July 28. in reference to a Fox News article.

GOP Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) — who was previously booed during a Texas GOP convention last June for his involvement in developing the bill — and Thom Tillis (R-NC) responded to voter pressure by walking back their previous support of the BSCA in a letter sent to DOE Secretary Miguel Cardona on July 10.

In the letter Cornyn and Tillis claim the DOE has misinterpreted the amendment made to the ESEA, which they say was “only meant to withhold funding from training School Resource Officers with “dangerous weapons,” not enrichment programs for students.”

While Section 8526 of the ESEA makes no mention of SROs, before or after amendments made by the BSCA, it does provide a number of additional prohibited uses such as:

• Construction, renovation, or repair of any school facility.
• Transportation
• The development or distribution of materials and the operation of programs to promote or encourage sexual activity, whether homosexual or heterosexual
• The distribution of legally obscene materials to minors on school grounds
• To provide sex education of HIV-prevention education in schools with the exception if the program includes the health benefits of abstinence
• To operate a program of contraceptive distribution

The law does, however, provide a $1 billion funding increase to State Educational Agencies for the creation of school safety programs, suicide prevention training and expand crisis intervention resources. Another $1 billion is earmarked to expand school-based mental health services grants and mental health professional demonstrations.

Centrist Senate Democrats have provided their own critical response. Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) also sent Cardona a letter urging the DOE to “reconsider the interpretation of BSCA in a way that does not limit learning opportunities for students and does not present barriers to critical hunter safety courses.”

House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) took a more proactive approach by introducing the Protecting Hunting Heritage and Education Act which calls for an additional amendment to the ESEA to exclude “the provision or use of such a weapon for purposes of training students in archery, hunting, or other shooting sports,” from the ESEA’s current restrictions.

In a press release announcing the bill’s introduction Green said, “The Biden administration’s decision to cut funding for these classes is a direct reflection of his disconnect with many Americans. We are a nation of hunters and fishermen. While President Biden lives in his own Swamp, Tennesseans are hunting and fishing in them.”

Funding generated from fundraisers, fees

One group that has been surprisingly quiet in the wake of such controversial budget cuts has been community level education officials and archery coaches themselves. Vinemont High School archery coach David Stokes said this is most likely due to the fact that the majority of school archery programs will remain largely unaffected by the DOE’s guidance.

The Vinemont Elementary, Middle and High School archery teams collected a slew of state and national recognitions during last year’s season, including a number of state championships — a rarity for the school. Stokes had been preparing to present his archers with their championship rings last Friday, Aug. 4, before the event was postponed due to weather, when he spoke to The Times.

“Yea, my dad actually sent me an article about that so I’m familiar with it, but to be honest, I was never very worried about it. I’m not even really sure what funding they’re talking about, all of our funding either comes from fundraisers, fees or things like the tournaments we do,” Stokes said.

East Elementary archery coach Branch Whitlock, who led his team to an undefeated season — which also ended with a state championship win — said this was pretty typical for school archery teams and that he also relies heavily on fundraisers and student fees for his program’s funding.

The BCSA only places restrictions on ESEA funding and leaves other federal revenue pools unchanged, but Cullman County School officials say government funding has never been applied to the day to day operations of any of the districts athletic programs, which instead rely primarily on local funding sources and community booster organizations.

In an emailed response to The Times, Dr. Eric Mackey, Alabama State Superintendent of Education, said he was a long-time advocate for outdoor and shooting sport programs. He said he was proud to have earned his Hunter Safety certification through his high school’s FFA charter and ensured these types of programs would continue to be offered throughout Alabama.

“Thus far, we have been unable to identify any programs that will be affected by the US DOE’s new rule. Hunter safety, gun safety and archery safety are crucial to teacher [sic] young Alabamians how to handle potentially deadly weapons in a responsible, respectful way,” the statement reads.

Michael Bloxom with the Alabama Department of Conservation, serves as the Alabama coordinator for the National Archery in the Schools Program and said the organization has been working closely with the ALDOE to monitor the situation. He said there was a small concern that if a particular coach’s teacher salary was provided from ESEA funding there could be a conflict, but the state’s programs were currently continuing and even growing.

“No [there hasn’t been any programs cut] in response to this law or situation. We’re growing more than ever in Alabama and really nationwide.”