I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2178 
To provide for adequate and equitable educational opportunities for students 
in State public school systems, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 5, 2005 
Mr. FATTAH (for himself, Mr. WEINER, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. LEE, Mr. 
WYNN, Mr. RANGEL, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, 
Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, Ms. 
CARSON, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. STRICKLAND, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. 
HINOJOSA, Mr. DAVIS of Alabama, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. WEXLER, 
Ms. HERSETH, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, Mr. 
GRIJALVA, Mr. BECERRA, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Ms. ROYBAL-AL-
LARD, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. JEFFER-
SON, Mr. STUPAK, Mr. OLVER, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. CLAY, Mr. 
RUSH, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. MURTHA, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Ms. NOR-
TON, Mr. MEEK of Florida, Mr. PAYNE, Ms. WATERS, Mrs. JONES of 
Ohio, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. 
EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. WATT, Ms. KIL-
PATRICK of Michigan, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. NEAL of Massa-
chusetts, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Mr. ALLEN, Mr. ACKERMAN, Mr. 
MENENDEZ, Mr. MOLLOHAN, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. FILNER, Mr. 
OWENS, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. CLYBURN, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. 
DOGGETT, Mr. BERMAN, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. NADLER, Mr. KUCINICH, 
Ms. SCHWARTZ of Pennsylvania, Mr. TIERNEY, and Mr. MOORE of Kan-
sas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To provide for adequate and equitable educational opportuni-
ties for students in State public school systems, and 
for other purposes. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Student Bill of 
Rights’’. 
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
The table of contents for this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title 
Sec. 2. Table of contents 
Sec. 3. Findings and purposes 
TITLE I—EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY IN STATE PUBLIC 
SCHOOL SYSTEMS 
Subtitle A—Access to Educational Opportunity 
Sec. 111. Adequate and equitable State public school systems 
Sec. 112. State educational adequacy and equity requirements 
Sec. 113. State-established standards for access to educational opportunity 
Subtitle B—State Accountability 
Sec. 121. Determination of educationally adequate and inequitable State public 
school systems 
Sec. 122. State accountability for improvement of educational opportunity 
Sec. 123. Consequences of nonremediation 
Subtitle C—Public Reporting and Remedy 
Sec. 131. Annual report by Secretary on adequacy and equity in State public 
school systems 
Sec. 132. Civil action for enforcement 
TITLE II—EFFECTS OF EDUCATIONAL DISPARITIES ON 
ECONOMIC GROWTH AND NATIONAL DEFENSE 
Sec. 201. Effects on economic growth and productivity 
Sec. 202. Effects on national defense 
TITLE III—GENERAL PROVISIONS 
Sec. 301. Definitions 
Sec. 302. Notice and opportunity for hearing 
Sec. 303. Rulemaking 
Sec. 304. Rule of construction 
SEC. 3. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 
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(1) A high-quality, highly competitive education 
for all students is imperative for the economic 
growth and productivity of the United States, for its 
effective national defense, and for achievement of 
the historical aspiration to be one Nation of equal 
citizens. It is therefore necessary and proper to over-
come the nationwide phenomenon of educationally 
inadequate or inequitable State public school sys-
tems, in which high-quality public schools serve 
high-income communities and poor-quality schools 
serve low-income, urban, rural, and minority commu-
nities. 
(2) There exists in the States an ever-widening 
educational opportunity gap for low-income, urban, 
rural, and minority students characterized by the 
following: 
(A) Highly differential educational expend-
itures among public school districts within 
States. 
(B) Continuing disparities within the 
States in students’ access to the fundamentals 
of educational opportunity described in section 
112(a). 
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