I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1952

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to establish

a demonstration program of grants for innovative projects relating to

character education, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 3, 1993

Mr. HALL of Ohio introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Education and Labor

A BILL

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

of 1965 to establish a demonstration program of grants

for innovative projects relating to character education,

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 ‘‘Character Education

5 Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

7 The purposes of this Act are—
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1 (1) to explore, assess, and stimulate a variety of

2 approaches to character education;

3 (2) to lend Federal support to local and State

4 character education programs that seek to promote

5 commonly accepted civic and character values and

6 the principles of democracy.

7 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.

8 The Congress finds that—

9 (1) many Americans of all economic and social

10 levels and ages no longer make determinations of

11 right and wrong as to their own actions or the ac12 tions of others in matters of both public and private

13 concern;

14 (2) educational institutions, which have tradi15 tionally played a role in assisting students to make

16 such determinations, no longer receive explicit au17 thority or proper assistance necessary to fulfill this

18 responsibility;

19 (3) the Nation has witnessed a national moral

20 recession in governmental and political activities, sci21 entific research, and business and commerce, in

22 which individuals have failed to consider the ethics

23 governing their behavior;
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1 (4) statistics show alarming incidents in indi2 vidual and gang violence, drug and substance abuse,

3 and suicide among both young people and adults;

4 (5) polls show that Americans overwhelmingly

5 prize values such as honesty, but believe that people

6 are less honest today than in the past;

7 (6) leaders representing a broad spectrum of

8 political, social, and religious backgrounds believe

9 that education in moral issues contributes to good

10 citizenship and have called for strengthening the

11 teaching of democratic values;

12 (7) local character education programs have

13 shown positive results in reducing negative student

14 behavior, including violence, vandalism, and dis15 respect for others, and in promoting an understand16 ing of shared civic and character values;

17 (8) training in ethics is an ongoing concern in

18 business and industry and in public service; and

19 (9) while education remains the responsibility of

20 local and State governments, the Congress and the

21 Federal Government may appropriately provide as22 sistance to educational agencies and institutions at23 tempting to promote ethics, civic and character val24 ues, and the principles of democracy through char25 acter education programs.
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1 SEC. 4. DEFINITION.

2 For purposes of this Act, the term ‘‘character edu3 cation’’ means the teaching of commonly accepted civic

4 and character values and the principles of democracy that

5 contribute to ethical behavior.

6 TITLE I—CHARACTER EDU7 CATION DEMONSTRATION

8 PROGRAM

9 SEC. 101. AMENDMENT TO SECRETARY’S FUND FOR INNO10 VATION IN EDUCATION.

11 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—Paragraph (2) of sec12 tion 4601(a) of the Elementary and Secondary Education

13 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 3151(a)) is amended—

14 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara15 graph (C);

16 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub17 paragraph (D) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

18 (3) by adding at the end the following:

19 ‘‘(E) help stimulate understanding of ethics,

20 civic and character values, and the principles of de21 mocracy as a means of enhancing and improving ele22 mentary and secondary education in accordance with

23 section 4610.’’.

24 (b) CHARACTER EDUCATION DEMONSTRATION PRO25 GRAM.—Part F of title IV of the Elementary and Second-
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1 ary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 3151 et seq.) is

2 amended—

3 (1) by redesignating section 4610 as section

4 4611; and

5 (2) by inserting before section 4611 (as redesig6 nated by paragraph (1) of this subsection) the fol7 lowing:

8 ‘‘SEC. 4610. CHARACTER EDUCATION DEMONSTRATION

9 PROGRAM.

10 ‘‘(a) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—The Secretary is au11 thorized to make grants to State educational agencies,

12 local educational agencies, institutions of higher edu13 cation, and other public and private agencies, organiza14 tions, and institutions to conduct character education ac15 tivities designed to help stimulate understanding of ethics,

16 civic and character values, and the principles of democracy

17 as a means of enhancing and improving elementary and

18 secondary education.

19 ‘‘(b) USES OF FUNDS.—Grants made under this sec20 tion may be used for—

21 ‘‘(1) the development of teaching materials for

22 character education;

23 ‘‘(2) teacher training and seminars;

24 ‘‘(3) the establishment of clearinghouses for

25 character education programs;
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1 ‘‘(4) proposals seeking to involve the entire

2 school environment;

3 ‘‘(5) research and followup studies of existing

4 programs of character and civic values and ethics

5 education;

6 ‘‘(6) projects that measure and evaluate the ef7 fectiveness of ongoing character education programs;

8 ‘‘(7) character and values education projects

9 demonstrating a beneficial effect on individual ethi10 cal behavior and on the incidence of individual and

11 gang violence, drug and substance abuse, and sui12 cide;

13 ‘‘(8) projects that assist in identifying a consen14 sus of values within a community that may be

15 appropriately promoted in schools of the community;

16 and

17 ‘‘(9) projects that seek to develop model pro18 grams to promote character and civic values, ethics,

19 and responsible citizenship.

20 ‘‘(c) APPLICATION.—Each applicant desiring to re21 ceive a grant under this section shall submit an application

22 in such form, in such manner, and containing or accom23 panied by such information as the Secretary may reason24 ably require. Each such application shall—
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1 ‘‘(1) identify civic and character values and eth2 ics that receive widespread support from a consensus

3 of individuals in the community served;

4 ‘‘(2) describe the school population intended to

5 benefit from the proposed activities;

6 ‘‘(3) demonstrate how the proposal fulfills the

7 purpose described in subsection (a);

8 ‘‘(4) describe the methods to be used to evalu9 ate the results of the proposed activities; and

10 ‘‘(5) provide assurances that the applicant will

11 appoint an advisory board to assist the applicant in

12 conducting the proposed activities, which board shall

13 consist of individuals representative of—

14 ‘‘(A) parents;

15 ‘‘(B) educators and teachers;

16 ‘‘(C) community leaders;

17 ‘‘(D) social service professionals;

18 ‘‘(E) business leaders; and

19 ‘‘(F) the general public.’’.

20 TITLE II—NATIONAL CON21 FERENCE ON CHARACTER

22 EDUCATION

23 SEC. 201. NATIONAL CONFERENCE.

24 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Education

25 shall sponsor a National Character Education Conference
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1 (referred to in this title as the ‘‘conference’’) not later

2 than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act

3 to evaluate local and State character education programs

4 throughout the Nation.

5 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Secretary of Education shall

6 invite individuals who have expertise regarding character

7 education to participate as members in the conference, in8 cluding—

9 (1) parents;

10 (2) teachers;

11 (3) educators;

12 (4) community leaders;

13 (5) social service professionals;

14 (6) business leaders;

15 (7) philosophers;

16 (8) government officials;

17 (9) representatives of the arts, entertainment,

18 and sports fields; and

19 (10) the general public.

20 SEC. 202. DUTIES.

21 Members of the conference shall—

22 (1) assess and evaluate what types of character

23 education programs are available at the State and

24 local level;
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1 (2) assess and evaluate programs used by

2 schools to teach students character education;

3 (3) determine how to measure the content and

4 efficacy of character education programs in prepar5 ing students as productive members of society;

6 (4) determine how the Government can assist

7 with the development and implementation of char8 acter education programs; and

9 (5) evaluate and make recommendations re10 garding successful teaching methods and models for

11 character education.

12 SEC. 203. REPORTS.

13 The Secretary of Education shall submit to the Con14 gress a report which states the findings, conclusions, and

15 recommendations of the conference not later than 180

16 days after the conference is held.

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