[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 148 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 148

 Expressing the sense of the Congress that America's public education 
 system belongs to all Americans and should be celebrated for the role 
   the system plays in strengthening American values and ensuring a 
               brighter, stronger future for this Nation.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 10, 2003

  Mr. Cardin submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
        referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Congress that America's public education 
 system belongs to all Americans and should be celebrated for the role 
   the system plays in strengthening American values and ensuring a 
               brighter, stronger future for this Nation.

Whereas America's public school students and staff reflect the Nation's 
        diversity and rich heritage;
Whereas America's public school system guarantees more than 50,000,000 children 
        a broad, comprehensive education regardless of their race, faith, or 
        ability to pay;
Whereas America's public school teachers dedicate themselves daily to the 
        development of each and every student's full potential, including 
        developmentally disabled children;
Whereas America's public schools educate more than 4,500,000 children each year 
        for whom English is a second language;
Whereas America's public schools bring together on common ground students from a 
        myriad of cultural and religious backgrounds, and thereby teach the 
        value of understanding;
Whereas America's public schools provide more than one-third of their students 
        with free or reduced price meals each day, and thereby teach the value 
        of humanitarianism;
Whereas America's public schools offer after-school programs that provide a safe 
        haven for nearly 1,000,000 children in impoverished neighborhoods, and 
        thereby teach the value of compassion;
Whereas America's public schools teach more than 500,000 children who have no 
        permanent address, and thereby teach the value of acceptance;
Whereas thousands of America's public school teachers spend their personal funds 
        on textbooks, notebook paper, and pencils in underfunded school 
        districts, and thereby teach the value of altruism; and
Whereas the unanimous landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision held, 
        in the words of Chief Justice Earl Warren, that ``education is perhaps 
        the most important function of state and local governments. Compulsory 
        school attendance laws and the great expenditures for education both 
        demonstrate our recognition of the importance of education to our 
        democratic society . . . It is the very foundation of good citizenship . 
        . . It is a principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural 
        values'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of the Congress that America's public education 
system belongs to all Americans and should be celebrated for the role 
the system plays in strengthening American values and ensuring a 
brighter, stronger future for this Nation.
                                 <all>