[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 37 (Monday, September 15, 1997)]
[Pages 1295-1296]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7018--America Goes Back to School, 1997

September 8, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Americans want the best for our children. We want them to live out 
their dreams, empowered with the tools they need to make the most of 
their lives and to build a future

[[Page 1296]]

where America remains the world's beacon of hope and freedom and 
opportunity. To do this, we must all make improving the quality of 
education in America one of our highest priorities.
    In my State of the Union Address earlier this year, I issued a call 
to action for American education to prepare our Nation for the 21st 
century. Working together, we must make our schools strong and safe, 
with clear standards of achievement and discipline and talented, 
dedicated teachers in every classroom. Every school and every State 
should adopt rigorous national standards, with national tests in 4th-
grade reading and 8th-grade math to make sure our children master the 
basics. We must ensure that every student can read independently and 
well by the end of the 3rd grade. We must connect every classroom and 
library to the Internet by the year 2000 and help all students become 
technologically literate. We must modernize school buildings and expand 
school choice and accountability in public education. And we must 
encourage lifelong learning for all our citizens, from expanding Head 
Start programs to helping adults improve their education and skills.
    These goals are ambitious, but they are crucial if we are to prepare 
for the challenges and possibilities of life in the 21st century. With 
the 1997 balanced budget agreement, we will begin to meet these goals by 
providing new resources to help children learn to read, the means to 
help connect every school to the Internet, and tens of billions of 
dollars in tax cuts to help families pay for college.
    I urge all Americans to become actively involved in their local 
schools and colleges and to make a real commitment to support education 
improvement and give our children the kind of support they need to 
succeed. The Partnership for Family Involvement in Education is setting 
a powerful example in this endeavor. These partners--including the 
Department of Education and more than 3,000 schools, families, colleges 
and universities, community, cultural, and religious groups, businesses, 
elected officials and policymakers, and the men and women of our Armed 
Forces--have pledged their support for our initiative, ``America Goes 
Back to School: Answering the President's Call to Action.'' Through 
their dedication to our children, they are helping America's young 
people grow into responsible and productive citizens. They are proving 
that when communities unite, every student can achieve more.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the 
Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 
8 through September 14, 1997, as a time when America Goes Back to 
School. I encourage parents, schools, community and State leaders, 
businesses, civic and religious organizations, and the people of the 
United States to observe this week with appropriate ceremonies and 
activities expressing support for high academic standards and meaningful 
involvement in schools and colleges and the students and families they 
serve.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of 
September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, 
and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred 
and twenty-second.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., September 10, 
1997]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on 
September 11.