[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 130, 114th Congress, 2nd Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

 
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.

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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 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.
BARACK OBAMA