I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1295 
To provide for adequate and equitable educational opportunities for students 
in State public school systems, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 31, 2011 
Mr. FATTAH (for himself and Mr. HONDA) 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. 
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. 
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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 opportunity to learn. 
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: 
(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 
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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 local educational agencies within 
States. 
(B) Continuing disparities within the 
States in students’ access to the opportunity to 
learn indicators described in section 112(a). 
(C) 
Radically 
differential 
educational 
achievement among local educational agencies 
within the States, as measured by the following: 
(i) Achievement in mathematics, read-
ing or language arts, and science on State 
academic achievement tests and measures, 
including the academic assessments de-
scribed in section 113(b)(1). 
(ii) Advanced placement courses of-
fered and taken. 
(iii) Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) 
and ACT Assessment scores. 
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(iv) Dropout rates and graduation 
rates. 
(v) College-going and college-comple-
tion rates. 
(vi) Job placement and retention rates 
and indices of job quality. 
(3) As a consequence of this educational oppor-
tunity gap, the quality of a child’s education depends 
largely upon where the child’s family lives, and the 
detriments of lower quality public education are im-
posed particularly on— 
(A) children from low-income families; 
(B) children living in urban and rural 
areas; and 
(C) minority children. 
(4) Since 1785, the Congress of the United 
States, exercising the power to admit new States 
under article IV, section 3 of the Constitution (and 
previously, the Congress of the Confederation of 
States under the Articles of Confederation), has im-
posed upon every State, as a fundamental condition 
of the State’s admission, the following requirements: 
(A) One, and sometimes two, square-mile 
lots in every township were to be ‘‘granted and 
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