IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 54 

Affirming the role of the United States in improving access to quality, 

inclusive public education and improving learning outcomes for children 

and adolescents, particularly for girls, around the world. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 24, 2023 

Ms. MENG (for herself, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Mr. BERA, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, 

Mr. BOWMAN, Ms. BROWN, Mr. CARTER of Louisiana, Mr. CASE, Ms. 

CLARKE of New York, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. COHEN, Mr. CROW, Mr. 

DESAULNIER, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. EVANS, Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HIMES, 

Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Mr. 

KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. LIEU, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. 

MORELLE, Mr. MOULTON, Ms. NORTON, Ms. OMAR, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. 

PETERS, Mr. POCAN, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. ROSS, Mr. RUIZ, Ms. SALAZAR, 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. TITUS, Ms. TOKUDA, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Ms. 

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, and Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Affirming the role of the United States in improving access 

to quality, inclusive public education and improving 

learning outcomes for children and adolescents, particularly for girls, around the world. 

Whereas the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 

January 24 as the International Day of Education, in 


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celebration of the role of education for peace and development; 

Whereas the theme of the fifth International Day of Education is ‘‘to invest in people, prioritize education’’; 

Whereas access to quality education reduces poverty, advances economic prosperity, improves peace and security, 

and strengthens public health, and poverty is one of the 

most striking factors that impedes the attainment of 

foundational learning skills, particularly with regard to 

reading; 

Whereas foundational learning is an essential first step to enable children and young people to access more advanced 

learning and skills, and children who cannot read and understand a simple text will struggle to learn anything else 

in school and they are more likely to repeat a grade and 

drop out of school; 

Whereas at its peak, COVID–19-related school closures affected more than 94 percent of the world’s students, representing 1,580,000,000 children and youth, from 

preprimary to higher education, in 200 countries; 

Whereas an estimated 147,000,000 children have missed 

more than half of their in-class instruction over the past 

2 years due to school closures caused by the COVID–19 

pandemic; 

Whereas this generation of children, affected by disruptions 

to education because of the pandemic, could lose a combined total of $17,000,000,000,000 in lifetime earnings; 

Whereas, before COVID–19, primary enrollment for girls had 

increased by 65 percent; now an estimated 129 million 

girls worldwide remain out of school and face multiple 

barriers to education, and investments in addressing the 


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challenges that are keeping girls out of school are critical 

investments in global prosperity; 

Whereas approximately 222,000,000 school-aged children are 

affected by crises, of which 78,200,000 are out of school 

and 119,600,000 are not achieving minimum competencies in mathematics and reading despite attending 

school; 

Whereas at the end of 2021, an estimated (41 percent) 

36,500,000 of the world’s 89,300,000 refugees, internally 

displaced persons, and other forcibly displaced persons 

were children and an estimated 68 percent of refugee 

children were enrolled at the primary level, but only 37 

percent were enrolled at the secondary level; 

Whereas there remains a need to close the gap between refugees and their peers in the area of higher education; 

Whereas the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) should expand access to distance learning 

materials and technology, support safe school reopening 

plans, including reenrollment campaigns for out-of-school 

children and youth, and prioritize assessments of student 

learning levels, remedial and accelerated learning, and 

curriculum adaptation, and renew efforts to reach 

marginalized students, including girls, children with disabilities, and those living in displaced persons camps, in 

line with the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 

(Public Law 117–229); 

Whereas for every $1 invested in girls’ education, as much 

of $2.80 is generated in economic growth, equating to billions of dollars in additional GDP growth, and in contrast, failing to educate girls is costing countries between 


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$15,000,000,000,000 and $30,000,000,000,000 in lost 

lifetime productivity and earnings; 

Whereas even as domestic resources are taken into account, 

the annual financing gap over 2015–2030 for reaching 

quality universal preprimary, primary, and secondary 

education in low and lower middle income countries is 

$39,000,000,000; 

Whereas continued and increased bilateral educational support from the United States Government, as well as multilateral partnerships like the Global Partnership for 

Education (GPE) and Education Cannot Wait (ECW), 

play a critical role in helping marginalized children and 

adolescents build a future for themselves and the communities in which they live; 

Whereas in fiscal year 2021, USAID global education programs reached more than 33,400,000 learners in 73 

countries and assisted more than 113,000 schools at the 

preprimary, primary, and secondary levels; 

Whereas the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is a 

proven and effective aid delivery mechanism that complements the United States Government’s bilateral basic 

education programs by fostering coordination among all 

key partners, supporting the development and implementation of strong national education sector plans, and 

building on the commitment of developing country governments to expand quality educational opportunities for 

children in an equitable manner; 

Whereas the United States Government’s annual support for 

GPE has had a transformative impact in the lives of children around the world, and since GPE’s inception in 


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2002, 160,000,000 more children, more than half of 

them girls, are in school in GPE’s 85 partner countries; 

Whereas the United States pledged $305,000,000 over 3 

years to the Global Partnership for Education at its 2021 

Global Education Summit; 

Whereas ECW is at the forefront of efforts to increase access 

to education in crisis settings, and since its inception in 

2016, ECW has reached 6,900,000 children and adolescents; provided education materials and textbooks to over 

4,200,000 children; strengthened equity and gender 

equality by reaching 3,300,000 girls; supported the training of 87,367 teachers and administrators; doubled the 

number of teachers trained on mental health and psychosocial support; and developed 24 Multi-Year Resilience 

Programs and disbursed 199 First Emergency Response 

grants; 

Whereas the United States has been central to the success 

of ECW, as the third largest donor to ECW currently, 

and continued support will be critical if ECW is to meet 

its 2023–2026 Strategic Plan goals; 

Whereas the private sector is an important partner to 

USAID and the Department of State in reaching international education goals as evidenced by a 2019 joint 

pledge of $12,500,000 to Education Cannot Wait by 

LEGO Foundation to bring quality learning experiences 

to children in emergency situations; 

Whereas the United States Government has long been a leader in global education and has made global commitments 

to improve access to education and learning for at least 

15,000,000 girls globally by 2025; 


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Whereas the United States has also endorsed the Commitment to Action on Foundational Learning as developed 

with World Bank, UNICEF, and USAID during the 

2022 United Nations Transforming Education Summit, 

committing to taking urgent and decisive action to ensure 

all children develop the foundational skills needed to reduce the global share of children unable to read and understand a simple text by age 10, by half, by 2030; 

Whereas USAID made 16 commitments to be achieved by 

2026 at the Global Disability Summit, including commitments to promote disability-inclusive education, strengthen disability data for education programming, promote 

the Universal Design for Learning approach in all new 

education programs, and increase disability-inclusive initiatives at all levels of education, from preprimary 

through higher education programming; 

Whereas Congress has long supported strong bipartisan funding for the International Basic Education program at 

USAID; however the President’s annual Budget Request 

for international basic education funding has been lower 

than the previously congressionally appropriated level 

since 2004; 

Whereas Congress passed the Reinforcing Education Accountability in Development (READ) Act (Division A, 

Public Law 115–56), in 2017 to demonstrate the United 

States Government’s commitment to improve access to 

education around the world and ensure individuals 

around the world have the education and skills needed to 

be productive members of society and the workforce; and 

Whereas the authorities under the READ Act expire at the 

end of fiscal year 2023: Now, therefore, be it 


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1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) commends the leadership and commitment 

3 of the United States Government to improve access 

4 to quality, inclusive education and improved learning 

5 outcomes for the poorest and most marginalized 

6 children and adolescents worldwide, which promotes 

7 global stability, economic prosperity, and poverty 

8 elimination; 

9 (2) recognizes that United States Government 

10 investments in bilateral basic education are com11 plemented by Global Partnership for Education’s 

12 education systems-level approach and partnership 

13 building and Education Cannot Wait’s focus on edu14 cation in emergencies and protracted crises; 

15 (3) encourages the United States Government 

16 to integrate education in all humanitarian response 

17 efforts—both bilateral and multilateral—and con18 tinue to promote coordination across all sectors and 

19 branches of the United States Government; 

20 (4) implores the United States Government to 

21 meet its various commitments to international basic 

22 education through its annual budget requests to 

23 Congress and to expand bilateral and multilateral 

24 support recognizing the significant global need; 


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1 (5) calls on the Secretary of State and the Ad2 ministrator of the United States Agency for Inter3 national Development to use all diplomatic, humani4 tarian, and development means, including via high5 level leadership in multilaterals, and global 

6 convenings, to promote access to quality education 

7 for children and adolescents throughout the world; 

8 and 

9 (6) calls on the Secretary of State and the Ad10 ministrator of the United States Agency for Inter11 national Development to commit to prioritizing qual12 ity, inclusive public education for children and youth 

13 with disabilities, girls, children and youth in emer14 gency and crisis settings, and traditionally 

15 marginalized groups as a critical component to 

16 learning equity, poverty elimination, and global sta17 bility and prosperity. 

Æ 


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