I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5177

To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide assistance for 

developing countries to promote quality basic education and to establish 

the achievement of universal basic education in all developing countries 

as an objective of United States foreign assistance policy, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 29, 2004

Mrs. LOWEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on International Relations 

A BILL

To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide 

assistance for developing countries to promote quality 

basic education and to establish the achievement of universal basic education in all developing countries as an 

objective of United States foreign assistance policy, and 

for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Education for All Act 

5 of 2004’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Throughout the world, an alarming number 

4 of children are not receiving primary education. At 

5 least 104,000,000 children ages 6 through 11 are 

6 not in school, and 57 percent of such children are 

7 girls. Another 150,000,000 children are at risk of 

8 dropping out before completing primary school, and 

9 at least 66 percent of such children are girls. At 

10 least 86 countries are unlikely to achieve the goal of 

11 100 percent of children completing primary school 

12 by 2015. 

13 (2) The final report of the National Commis14 sion on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States 

15 (hereafter in this section referred to as the ‘‘Re16 port’’) concluded that education that teaches toler17 ance, the dignity and value of each individual, and 

18 respect for different beliefs must be a key element 

19 in any global strategy to eliminate terrorism. 

20 (3) Extending the vision of educational oppor21 tunity described in the Report to all developing 

22 countries is critical to achieve the United Nations 

23 Millennium Development Goals and prevent the rise 

24 of violent extremism worldwide. 

25 (4) The Report concluded that the United 

26 States Government must offer an example of moral 
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1 leadership in the world and offer parents and their 

2 children a vision of the future that emphasizes indi3 vidual educational and economic opportunity. 

4 (5) At the World Education Forum held in 

5 Dakar, Senegal in 2000, the United States joined 

6 more than 180 other nations in committing to the 

7 goal of universal basic education by 2015. Universal 

8 completion of primary school and eliminating gender 

9 disparity in all levels of education not later than 

10 2015 are part of the United Nations Millennium De11 velopment Goals. 

12 (6) According to the 2002 United Nations De13 velopment Programme Arab Human Development 

14 Report, 10,000,000 children between the ages of 6 

15 through 15 in the Arab world do not attend school, 

and 2 16 ⁄3 of the 65,000,000 illiterate adults in the 

17 Arab world are women. At all educational stages, the 

18 most important challenge facing education in the 

19 Arab world is the declining quality of such edu20 cation. 

21 (7) The Report noted that the United Nations 

22 has rightly equated ‘‘literacy as freedom’’ and that 

23 the international community is moving toward set24 ting a goal of reducing by half the illiteracy rate in 

25 the Middle East by 2010, through the implementa-
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1 tion of education programs targeting women and 

2 girls and supporting programs for adult literacy. 

3 (8) Basic education has been demonstrated to 

4 be fundamental to development. No country has 

5 reached sustained economic growth without achiev6 ing near universal primary education. Education re7 duces poverty and inequality, and lays the founda8 tion for sound governance, civic participation, and 

9 strong institutions. 

10 (9) Investing in girls’ education delivers sub11 stantial returns not only in educational attainment 

12 but also in increasing women’s incomes, delaying the 

13 start of sexual activity, reducing infant mortality, in14 creasing women’s political participation, and spur15 ring economic growth. 

16 (10) The Report concluded that ensuring edu17 cational opportunity is essential to the efforts of the 

18 United States to defeat global terrorism and rec19 ommended that the United States Government 

20 ‘‘should offer to join with other nations in gener21 ously supporting [spending funds] . . . directly on 

22 building and operating primary and secondary 

23 schools in those Muslim states that commit to sen24 sibly investing financial resources in public edu25 cation.’’. 
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1 (11) Credible estimates indicate that at least an 

2 additional $7,000,000,000 to $10,000,000,000 per 

3 year of external development assistance is necessary 

4 for developing countries to achieve universal basic 

5 education by 2015. 

6 SEC. 3. ASSISTANCE TO ACHIEVE UNIVERSAL BASIC EDU7 CATION. 

8 The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 

9 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 105 the fol10 lowing new section: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 105A. UNIVERSAL BASIC EDUCATION. 

12 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this section to 

13 ensure that the United States provides the resources and 

14 leadership to ensure a successful international effort to 

15 provide all children with a quality basic education in order 

16 to achieve the goal of universal basic education by 2015 

17 agreed to at the World Education Forum held in Dakar, 

18 Senegal in 2000. 

19 ‘‘(b) POLICY.—It is the policy of the United States 

20 to work with foreign countries and international organiza21 tions to increase the global commitment to achieving uni22 versal basic education to—

23 ‘‘(1) assist developing countries committed to 

24 serious reforms to provide all children with a quality 

25 elementary education and secondary education; and 
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1 ‘‘(2) provide incentives to encourage reform of 

2 the education system and improve educational serv3 ices in countries that lack such commitment. 

4 ‘‘(c) PRINCIPLES.—In developing the global commit5 ment referred to in subsection (b), the policy of the United 

6 States shall be guided by the following principles: 

7 ‘‘(1) UNITED STATES RESOURCES.—To lead a 

8 global commitment to achieving universal basic edu9 cation, the United States shall commit substantial 

10 new resources for education in developing countries 

11 to inspire confidence in such countries that efforts to 

12 reform education in such countries will receive ade13 quate resources. 

14 ‘‘(2) OTHER MAJOR DONORS.—The United 

15 States Government shall encourage other donors to 

16 contribute commensurate amounts to support such a 

17 global commitment. 

18 ‘‘(3) PRIVATE SECTOR AND NONGOVERN19 MENTAL PARTICIPATION AND CONTRIBUTIONS.—

20 United States efforts in leading such a global com21 mitment shall include explicit strategies to encourage 

22 and integrate contributions of strategic direction and 

23 financial resources from indigenous and inter24 national private sector and civil society organizations 
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1 interested in supporting quality universal basic edu2 cation efforts. 

3 ‘‘(4) SCHOOL ACCESS, QUALITY, AND COMPLE4 TION.—United States assistance for basic education 

5 in developing countries shall seek to expand access 

6 to school for all children and to improve the quality 

7 of education in order to increase the number of chil8 dren completing a basic education. 

9 ‘‘(5) COORDINATION WITHIN THE UNITED

10 STATES GOVERNMENT.—A comprehensive strategy 

11 shall improve coordination and collaboration among 

12 all departments and agencies of the United States 

13 Government involved in education assistance to en14 sure efficient and effective use of the resources of 

15 the United States. 

16 ‘‘(6) COORDINATION BETWEEN EDUCATION AND

17 AIDS PREVENTION EFFORTS.—United States assist18 ance shall support efforts to improve coordination 

19 between global health and education initiatives in 

20 United States Government programs and inter21 nationally to reduce the adverse impact of HIV/

22 AIDS on education systems, teaching forces, and 

23 vulnerable children in developing countries. 

24 ‘‘(7) INTEGRATION OF EDUCATION PLANS

25 WITHIN OVERALL NATIONAL ECONOMIC STRATE-
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1 GIES.—United States policies and programs shall 

2 encourage poor countries to ensure that efforts are 

3 developed within an overall strategy of economic and 

4 market reforms to reduce poverty and spur sus5 tained economic growth. 

6 ‘‘(8) HIGH STANDARDS OF ACCOUNTABILITY

7 AND TRANSPARENCY IN BUDGETING.—The United 

8 States shall develop procedures to monitor the ex9 penditure of funds allocated for the purposes de10 scribed in this section, and shall only provide funds 

11 to the government of a foreign country only if such 

12 government has developed high standards of budget 

13 transparency, independent monitoring, and account14 ability. 

15 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

16 ‘‘(1) AIDS.—The term ‘AIDS’ has the meaning 

17 given that term in section 104A(g). 

18 ‘‘(2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT19 TEES.—The term ‘appropriate congressional com20 mittees’ means the Committee on Appropriations 

21 and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Sen22 ate and the Committee on Appropriations and the 

23 Committee on International Relations of the House 

24 of Representatives. 
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1 ‘‘(3) BASIC EDUCATION.—The term ‘basic edu2 cation’ means an education, generally consisting of 

3 completion of 9–10 years of schooling, including 

4 early childhood development, primary education, 

5 some secondary education, teacher training, literacy 

6 training, and life skills training. 

7 ‘‘(4) HIV/AIDS.—The term ‘HIV/AIDS’ has 

8 the meaning given that term in section 104A(g). 

9 ‘‘(5) EDUCATION FOR ALL FAST TRACK INITIA10 TIVE.—The term ‘Education for All Fast Track Ini11 tiative’ means the Fast Track Initiative launched in 

12 2002 to mobilize donor resources to support Edu13 cation for All, an international commitment 

14 launched in 1990 to bring the benefits of education 

15 to every individual. 

16 ‘‘(6) MEMBER STATES OF THE GROUP OF

17 EIGHT.—The term ‘member states of the Group of 

18 Eight’ means the countries of Canada, France, Ger19 many, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, 

20 and the United States. 

21 ‘‘(e) DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF A

22 COMPREHENSIVE UNITED STATES STRATEGY ON EDU23 CATION FOR ALL.—
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1 ‘‘(1) EDUCATION FOR ALL TASK FORCE.—The 

2 President shall establish an Education for All Task 

3 Force as described in this subsection. 

4 ‘‘(2) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the Task 

5 Force are—

6 ‘‘(A) to carry out the policy set out in sub7 section (b); and 

8 ‘‘(B) to develop a unified strategy of the 

9 United States to promote universal basic edu10 cation. 

11 ‘‘(3) MEMBERSHIP.—The Task Force shall in12 clude the following members: 

13 ‘‘(A) The Administrator of the United 

14 States Agency for International Development. 

15 ‘‘(B) The Secretary of the Treasury. 

16 ‘‘(C) The Secretary of Labor. 

17 ‘‘(D) The Secretary of Education. 

18 ‘‘(E) The Secretary of Health and Human 

19 Services. 

20 ‘‘(F) The Secretary of Agriculture. 

21 ‘‘(G) The Secretary of State. 

22 ‘‘(H) The Chief Executive Officer of the 

23 Millennium Challenge Corporation. 
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1 ‘‘(I) The Coordinator of United States 

2 Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS 

3 Globally. 

4 ‘‘(J) The National Security Advisor. 

5 ‘‘(K) The National Economic Advisor. 

6 ‘‘(4) CO-CHAIRS AND HEADQUARTERS.—The 

7 Task Force shall be co-chaired by the National Se8 curity Advisor and the National Economic Advisor, 

9 and the headquarters of the Task Force shall be lo10 cated at both the National Security Council and the 

11 National Economic Council. 

12 ‘‘(f) UNIFIED STRATEGY.—

13 ‘‘(1) CONTENT.—The unified strategy devel14 oped by the Task Force should include a detailed de15 scription of the United States plan to promote uni16 versal basic education, including a description of the 

17 following elements: 

18 ‘‘(A) The manner in which the resources of 

19 the United States shall be used to achieve uni20 versal basic education, including—

21 ‘‘(i) the efforts of the United States to 

22 coordinate an international effort to 

23 achieve universal basic education by 2015; 

24 ‘‘(ii) the activities of the United 

25 States to leverage contributions from mem-
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1 ber states of the Group of Eight and other 

2 donors to provide universal basic education 

3 by 2015; and 

4 ‘‘(iii) the assistance provided by the 

5 United States to leverage contributions 

6 from the private sector and civil society or7 ganizations to achieve universal basic edu8 cation. 

9 ‘‘(B) The efforts of the United States to 

10 coordinate with other donors to reduce duplica11 tion and waste at the global and country levels 

12 and ensure efficient coordination among all rel13 evant departments and agencies of the United 

14 States Government. 

15 ‘‘(C) The strategy of the United States to 

16 support efforts to overcome challenges to 

17 achieving universal basic education, including 

18 strategies to target hard-to-reach populations to 

19 promote education as a fundamental means to 

20 preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS, and to 

21 support efforts to reduce the adverse impact of 

22 HIV/AIDS on education systems. 

23 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENT TO CONSULT.—The Task 

24 Force shall consult with nongovernmental organiza25 tions and individuals involved in the promotion and 
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1 implementation of education assistance programs in 

2 developing countries to give such organizations and 

3 individuals an opportunity to contribute to, and com4 ment on, the unified strategy to promote universal 

5 basic education developed by the Task Force. 

6 ‘‘(3) SCHEDULE FOR COMPLETION OF STRAT7 EGY.—Not later than 180 days after the date of en8 actment of the Education for All Act of 2004, the 

9 Task Force shall submit the unified strategy to the 

10 President and to appropriate congressional commit11 tees. 

12 ‘‘(g) NATIONAL EDUCATION PLANS.—

13 ‘‘(1) AUTHORITY.—The President is authorized 

14 to provide funds and other assistance to an eligible 

15 entity to assist a foreign country to create the poli16 cies, processes, or infrastructure to develop and im17 plement a comprehensive national education plan as 

18 described in this subsection to allow all citizens of 

19 such country to access and complete basic education. 

20 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this subsection, the 

21 term ‘eligible entity’ means—

22 ‘‘(A) the government of a foreign country; 

23 or 
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1 ‘‘(B) a person that the President deter2 mines is appropriate to receive assistance under 

3 this subsection. 

4 ‘‘(3) CRITERIA FOR NATIONAL EDUCATION

5 PLANS.—Assistance may be provided under this sub6 section to an eligible entity to assist a foreign coun7 try that is developing a comprehensive, national edu8 cation plan, or to encourage a foreign country to de9 velop a comprehensive national education plan. Such 

10 a national education plan shall—

11 ‘‘(A) include explicit, credible strategies to 

12 achieve universal basic education; 

13 ‘‘(B) be developed in accordance with the 

14 provisions of—

15 ‘‘(i) this section; 

16 ‘‘(ii) the Education for All Fast Track 

17 Initiative; 

18 ‘‘(iii) the Poverty Reduction Strategy 

19 Paper process administered by the World 

20 Bank and the International Monetary 

21 Fund; and 

22 ‘‘(iv) the Millennium Challenge Act of 

23 2003 (22 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.); 
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1 ‘‘(C) be developed and implemented in con2 sultation with indigenous, nongovernmental or3 ganizations and civil society organizations; 

4 ‘‘(D) demonstrate a clear commitment of 

5 political and financial resources to education by 

6 the foreign country to ensure that assistance 

7 made available under this subsection supple8 ments, not supplants, the investment in edu9 cation made by such country; 

10 ‘‘(E) establish clear processes for the mon11 itoring and tracking of funds committed to edu12 cation, and clear standards for assessing 

13 progress toward achieving universal basic edu14 cation; and 

15 ‘‘(F) include special strategies to—

16 ‘‘(i) target hard-to-reach populations, 

17 especially girls, out-of-school youth, chil18 dren with disabilities, orphans, refugees, 

19 populations in emergency situations, and 

20 children impacted by AIDS; 

21 ‘‘(ii) improve coordination between 

22 education and other sectors, particularly 

23 the health sector, in order to address the 

24 role of education in preventing HIV/AIDS 

25 and other diseases and to specify efforts to 
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1 minimize the adverse impact of the disease 

2 on school systems and children’s access to 

3 schooling; and 

4 ‘‘(iii) ensure that schools provide qual5 ity education and are not incubators for 

6 violent extremism. 

7 ‘‘(4) ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED.—Assistance pro8 vided under this subsection may be used to support 

9 efforts to expand access and to improve the quality 

10 of basic education, including—

11 ‘‘(A) in a foreign country that has dem12 onstrated a capacity to develop a national edu13 cation plan, efforts to—

14 ‘‘(i) ensure an adequate supply of 

15 trained teachers, effective curriculum, and 

16 adequate infrastructure; 

17 ‘‘(ii) build systems to provide con18 tinuing support, training, and professional 

19 development for all educators; 

20 ‘‘(iii) eliminate fees for educational 

21 services, including fees for tuition, uni22 forms, and materials, and to provide access 

23 to education without additional costs to 

24 families; 
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1 ‘‘(iv) build systems to ensure con2 tinuing information collection, monitoring, 

3 and evaluation of education services and fi4 nancing; and 

5 ‘‘(v) ensure that schools are not incu6 bators for violent extremism; and 

7 ‘‘(B) in a foreign country that has not 

8 demonstrated a capacity to develop a national 

9 education plan, efforts to—

10 ‘‘(i) assist such country in developing 

11 such a capacity; 

12 ‘‘(ii) assist civil society organizations, 

13 international organizations, and local gov14 ernments that have demonstrated a com15 mitment to education reform in imple16 menting programs to provide basic edu17 cation on a community level, with an em18 phasis on such programs that could be ex19 panded if such country demonstrates a na20 tional commitment to basic education; and 

21 ‘‘(iii) assist civil society organizations 

22 and international organizations to provide 

23 education in situations of humanitarian 

24 emergency or armed conflict. 
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1 ‘‘(4) SUSPENSION OF ASSISTANCE.—The Presi2 dent may suspend the provision of all or part of the 

3 assistance provided under this subsection for a for4 eign country if there is substantial evidence that a 

5 government of such country—

6 ‘‘(A)(i) is not tracking and monitoring the 

7 use of foreign and domestic assistance to de8 velop or implement a comprehensive, national 

9 education plan and making such tracking and 

10 monitoring information available to the public; 

11 or 

12 ‘‘(ii) using such assistance for unauthor13 ized purposes; and 

14 ‘‘(B) fails to come forward with an imme15 diate plan to address a deficiency described in 

16 clause (i) or (ii) of subparagraph (A). 

17 ‘‘(h) UNIVERSAL BASIC EDUCATION FELLOWSHIP

18 PROGRAM.—

19 ‘‘(1) AUTHORITY.—The Administrator of the 

20 United States Agency for International Development 

21 is authorized to establish an education fellowship 

22 program at the United States Agency for Inter23 national Development to increase the expertise of 

24 the personnel of the Agency in promoting universal 
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1 basic education and to carry out the provisions of 

2 this section. 

3 ‘‘(2) TERM OF FELLOWSHIP.—An individual 

4 may participate in a fellowship under this subsection 

5 for a term of not more than 3 years. 

6 ‘‘(3) QUALIFICATIONS.—An individual is quali7 fied to participate in a fellowship under this sub8 section if such individual has the specific expertise 

9 required—

10 ‘‘(A) to develop and implement the policies 

11 and programs of this section; and 

12 ‘‘(B) to promote the exchange of knowl13 edge and experience among the Agency, the 

14 education service delivery community, private 

15 business, and the academic and research com16 munities. 

17 ‘‘(i) RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAWS.—The Presi18 dent shall exercise the authority provided in this section 

19 in accordance with other applicable law. 

20 ‘‘(j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

21 ‘‘(1) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—

22 There are authorized to be appropriated to the 

23 President to carry out the provisions of this section 

24 amounts as follows: 

25 ‘‘(A) $500,000,000 for fiscal year 2005. 
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1 ‘‘(B) $1,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2006. 

2 ‘‘(C) $1,500,000,000 for fiscal year 2007. 

3 ‘‘(D) $2,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2008. 

4 ‘‘(E) $2,500,000,000 for fiscal year 2009. 

5 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts made 

6 available under paragraph (1) are authorized to re7 main available until expended and are in addition to 

8 amounts otherwise available for such purposes.’’.

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