[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 86 (Wednesday, May 4, 2016)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 26985-26986]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-10653]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 81 , No. 86 / Wednesday, May 4, 2016 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 26985]]


                Proclamation 9437 of April 29, 2016

                
National Charter Schools Week, 2016

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Our Nation has always been guided by the belief that 
                all young people should be free to dream as big and 
                boldly as they want, and that with hard work and 
                determination, they can turn their dreams into 
                realities. Schools help us uphold this ideal by 
                offering a place for children to grow, learn, and 
                thrive. During National Charter Schools Week, we 
                celebrate the role of high-quality public charter 
                schools in helping to ensure students are prepared and 
                able to seize their piece of the American dream, and we 
                honor the dedicated professionals across America who 
                make this calling their life's work by serving in 
                charter schools.

                Charter schools play an important role in our country's 
                education system. Supporting some of our Nation's 
                underserved communities, they can ignite imagination 
                and nourish the minds of America's young people while 
                finding new ways of educating them and equipping them 
                with the knowledge they need to succeed. With the 
                flexibility to develop new methods for educating our 
                youth, and to develop remedies that could help 
                underperforming schools, these innovative and 
                autonomous public schools often offer lessons that can 
                be applied in other institutions of learning across our 
                country, including in traditional public schools. We 
                also must ensure our charter schools, like all our 
                schools, are of high quality and are held accountable--
                when a charter school does not meet high standards, we 
                need to act in the best interest of its students to 
                help it improve, and if that does not prove possible, 
                to close its doors.

                Charter schools have been at the forefront of 
                innovation and have found different ways of engaging 
                students in their high school years--including by 
                providing personalized instruction, leveraging 
                technology, and giving students greater access to 
                rigorous coursework and college-level courses. Over the 
                past 7 years, my Administration's commitment of 
                resources to the growth of charter schools has enabled 
                a significant expansion of educational opportunity, 
                enabling tens of thousands of children to attend high-
                quality public charter schools. I am committed to 
                ensuring all of our Nation's students have the tools 
                and skills they need to get ahead, and that begins with 
                ensuring they are able to attend an effective school 
                and obtain an excellent education.

                Educating every American student and ensuring they 
                graduate from high school prepared for college and 
                beyond is a national priority. This week, we honor the 
                educators working in public charter schools across our 
                Nation who, each day, give of themselves to provide 
                children a fair shot at the American dream, and we 
                recommit to the basic promise that all our daughters 
                and sons--regardless of background or circumstance--
                should be able to make of their lives what they will.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the 
                United States of America, by virtue of the authority 
                vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the 
                United States, do hereby proclaim May 1 through May 7, 
                2016, as National Charter Schools Week. I commend our 
                Nation's

[[Page 26986]]

                charter schools, teachers, and administrators, and I 
                call on States and communities to support high-quality 
                public schools, including charter schools, and the 
                students they serve.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand sixteen, and of the Independence of the United 
                States of America the two hundred and fortieth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2016-10653
Filed 5-3-16; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F6-P