What is "LAU"?

One of the Office of Civil Rights' priority issues is often referred to as the LAU issue. LAU refers to the provision of equal educational opportunities to national origin minority students who are of limited English proficiency.

During the late 1960's, the Office of Civil Rights became aware that many school districts made little or no provisions for the education of students who were unable to understand the English language, even though there were substantial numbers of these students enrolled. In an effort to resolve this problem, on May 25, 1970, the former Department of Health, Education, and Welfare issued a memorandum to school districts with more than five percent national origin minority group children clarifying the policy on issues concerning the responsibility of school districts under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This memorandum required school districts to take affirmative steps, but did not prescribe the content of these steps. It did explain that Title VI is violated if students are excluded from effective participation in school because of the inability to speak and understand the language of instruction.

Subsequently, a case was filed by parents on behalf of approximately 3,000 Chinese students who were unable to understand the language of instruction in the San Francisco Public School District. These students had been required to attend classes taught exclusively in English and had received no assistance in learning English. On January 21, 1974, the United States Supreme Court, in the case of Lau v. Nichols, 414 US 563 (1974) held that the District violated Title VI by denying Chinese-minority students a meaningful opportunity to participate in the educational program. In addition, it upheld the May 25th Memorandum as a valid interpretation of the requirements of Title VI. Henceforth, the Office of Civil Rights' efforts to satisfy the Supreme Court's mandate became known as the LAU issue.