Pressure Mounts on Biden Admin to Restore Funding for School Archery, Hunting Programs

Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) holds a hearing to review the President’s fiscal year 2024 budget request for the National Guard and Reserve in Washington on June 1, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Several Senate Democrats have put pressure on the Biden administration to explain their decision to cut off government financing for school programs that teach archery and hunting across the country.

Among them, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who wrote Department of Education (DOE) Secretary Miguel Cardona a letter (pdf) on Aug. 2, pushing him to reverse his department’s interpretation of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), which was passed last year.

The BSCA (pdf) was criticized as a “gun control” bill but touted by proponents as an effort to promote “safer, more inclusive and positive” schools. The legislation was introduced and passed by Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support, and signed into law by President Joe Biden in June 2022, following mass shootings at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and a school in Uvalde, Texas.

Due to the interpretation provided by the agency, funding for shooting sports and related activities intended to be provided by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) has been prevented from being distributed across the country.

Previously, two Republican senators sounded the alarm on this issue late last month after reading reports that the Biden administration has been withdrawing funds from school hunting and archery programs.

“In Montana, our schools have long offered shooting sport and hunter safety classes that play an important role in teaching safety and personal responsibility to students,” Mr. Tester wrote. “Outdoor recreation is foundational to our western way of life and any reduction of federal support for these educational programs is unacceptable.”

An 8-year-old Town of Wallkill resident shoots at a target from 10 yards away during archery practice at Gander Mountain in the Town of Wallkill, N.Y., on Aug. 19, 2016. Holly Kellum/The Epoch Times

Incorrect Interpretation

The lawmaker continued his letter by emphasizing what he considered an erroneous interpretation on the part of the Biden administration, saying the DOE would restrict learning opportunities for Montanans that are essential for the well-being of students.

“Republicans and Democrats worked together last summer to pass BSCA, which aims to improve the safety and wellbeing of American students while protecting law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights,” Mr. Tester continued.

“However, it appears that the Department of Education has interpreted this law in a manner that may reduce schools’ ability to offer important and long-established gun training classes. ... By misinterpreting which activities are now supported ESEA, the Department of Education is limiting learning opportunities critical to student safety.”

Mr. Tester concluded his letter by urging the Biden administration to rethink its position, saying, “I urge the Department of Education 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.”

The lawmaker’s office also pointed out in their press release concerning the letter that the senator is a “proud gun-owner” as well as a “strong supporter of the Second Amendment” who has consistently opposed a ban on assault weapons to “protect the rights of law-abiding Montana gun owners.”

A DOE spokesperson responded to The Epoch Times’s request for a response to the letter, saying, “The Department continues to implement the law as developed by Congress and continues to be open to engagement from Members regarding changes to this statutory language.”

Tommy Floyd, the president of the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP), told The Epoch Times he has concerns about the revocation of federal funding, saying school officials believe the courses are a significant “academic motivator.”

“We have survey data that shows that 58 percent of our student archers have been engaged with their school,” Mr. Floyd said. “They have found a reason to be connected, and if you talk to any educator, they’ll tell you that a connected student is a student much easier to reach for math, science, social studies, and language arts.”

NASP reports receiving numerous comments from parents that their child has excelled because of the archery program.

More Lawmakers’ Concerns

According to a letter dated July 10 that was acquired by The Epoch Times, Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) received information from various schools about the shift in policy that the DOE has implemented as a result of the passage of the BSCA.

“We were alarmed to learn recently that the Department of Education has misinterpreted the BCSA [sic] to require the defunding of certain longstanding educational and enrichment programs—specifically, archery and hunter education classes—for thousands of children, who rely on these programs to develop life skills, learn firearm safety and build self-esteem,” the senators wrote to Mr. Cardona.

The measure provides $1 billion for school improvement programs that “support safe and healthy students.” In dispute, however, is a section of the law (pdf) that prohibits the use of these funds for “the provision to any person of a dangerous weapon” or “training in the use of a dangerous weapon.”

The purpose of this provision, according to the senators, was to ensure that the related funds were allocated to enrichment programs rather than the training of school resource officers, which is funded elsewhere in the law.

But guidance (pdf) provided on the website of the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education of the U.S. Department of Education does not make that distinction. To get money from the BSCA Stronger Connections Grant Program, states must ensure (pdf) that schools don’t use the money “for the provision to any person of a dangerous weapon or training in the use of a dangerous weapon.”

Mr. Cornyn and Mr. Tillis stated in their letter that interpreting the law to exclude funding for archery and hunting education programs contradicts the purpose of the law.

“Using the BSCA as a pretext to shift critical educational and enrichment resources away from archery and hunter education classes was never the intent of the law,” they wrote. “The purpose of the Department is to meet students’ needs where they are and support the expansion of learning opportunities, not take them away.”

Fox News reported that Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) have also voiced belief that the Biden administration is misinterpreting the bipartisan law, asserting that the DOE’s application was not the congressional intent for the legislation.

The White House did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times’s request for comment.

Samantha Flom contributed to this report.