(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 
. . . reserved for the maintenance and use of 
public schools’’. 
(B) ‘‘[S]chools and the means of education 
[are to] be forever encouraged’’. 
(C) ‘‘State conventions [were to] provide, 
by ordinances irrevocable without the consent of 
the United States and the people of said States 
. . . that provision . . . be made for the estab-
lishment and maintenance of systems of public 
schools which shall be open to all children of 
said States’’. 
(See Ordinances of May 20, 1785, and July 13, 
1787; Act of March 3, 1845, 28th Cong. 2d Sess., 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
01:44 Apr 29, 2006
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2178.IH
H2178
5 Stat. 789, Chap. 76 (admitting Iowa and Florida); 
Act of February 22, 1889, 50th Cong., 2d Sess., 
Chap. 180 (admitting States created from the Da-
kota Territories); and the Acts of Congress per-
taining to the admission of each of the States.) 
(5) Over the years since the landmark ruling in 
Brown v. Board of Education, when a unanimous 
United States Supreme Court held that ‘‘the oppor-
tunity of an education . . . , where the state has un-
dertaken to provide it, is a right which must be 
made available to all on equal terms’’, courts in 44 
of the States have heard challenges to the establish-
ment, maintenance, and operation of educationally 
inadequate or inequitable State public school sys-
tems. (347 U.S. 483, 493 (1954)). 
(6) In 1970, the Presidential Commission on 
School Finance found that significant disparities in 
the distribution of educational resources existed 
among public school districts within States because 
the States relied too significantly on local district fi-
nancing for educational revenues, and that reforms 
in systems of school financing would increase the 
Nation’s ability to serve the educational needs of all 
children. 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
01:44 Apr 29, 2006
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2178.IH
H2178
(7) In 1999, the National Research Council of 
the National Academy of Sciences published a report 
entitled ‘‘Making Money Matter, Financing Amer-
ica’s Schools’’, which found that the concept of fund-
ing adequacy, which moves beyond the more tradi-
tional concepts of finance equity to focus attention 
on the sufficiency of funding for desired educational 
outcomes, is an important step in developing a fair 
and productive educational system. 
(8) In 2001, the Executive order establishing 
the President’s Commission on Educational Re-
source Equity declared, ‘‘A quality education is es-
sential to the success of every child in the 21st cen-
tury and to the continued strength and prosperity of 
our Nation. . . . [L]ong-standing gaps in access to 
educational resources exist, including disparities 
based on race and ethnicity.’’ (Executive Order 
13190, § 1 (January 15, 2001); 66 Fed. Reg. 
5424.) 
(9) According to the Secretary of Education, as 
stated in a letter (with enclosures) dated January 
19, 2002, from the Secretary to States— 
(A) racial and ethnic minorities continue to 
suffer from lack of access to educational re-
sources, including ‘‘experienced and qualified 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
01:44 Apr 29, 2006
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2178.IH
H2178
teachers, adequate facilities, and instructional 
programs and support, including technology, as 
well as . . . the funding necessary to secure 
these resources’’; and 
(B) these inadequacies are ‘‘particularly 
acute in high-poverty schools, including urban 
schools, where many students of color are iso-
lated and where the effect of the resource gaps 
may be cumulative. In other words, students 
who need the most may often receive the least, 
and these students often are students of color’’. 
(10) The Elementary and Secondary Education 
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.), as amended 
by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Public 
Law 107–110), provides that— 
(A) States must establish standards and 
assessments in mathematics, reading or lan-
guage arts, and science; 
(B) elementary schools and secondary 
schools must ensure that all students are pro-
ficient in such subjects within 12 years after 
the end of the 2001–2002 school year; and 
(C) elementary schools and secondary 
schools will be held accountable for the stu-
dents’ progress. 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
01:44 Apr 29, 2006
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2178.IH
H2178
(11) The standards and accountability move-
ment will succeed only if, in addition to standards 
and accountability, all schools have access to the 
educational resources necessary to enable students to 
achieve. 
(12) Raising standards without ensuring ade-
quate and equitable access to educational resources 
may, in fact, exacerbate achievement gaps and set 
children up for failure. 
(13) According to the World Economic Forum’s 
Global Competitiveness Report 2001–2002, the 
United States ranks last among developed countries 
in the difference in the quality of schools available 
to rich and poor children. 
(14) Each State Government has ultimate au-
thority in determining every important aspect and 
priority of the public school system that provides ele-
mentary and secondary education to children in the 
State, including whether children throughout the 
State have high access to the fundamentals of edu-
cational opportunity described in section 112(a). 
(15) Since 1965, the Congress, in exercising its 
spending authority, has provided substantial Federal 
financial assistance to the States for the improve-
ment of their public school systems. In their expend-
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
01:44 Apr 29, 2006
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00009
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2178.IH
H2178
iture and oversight of this assistance, the States 
have failed systematically to achieve the purpose of 
the Congress in providing the assistance, namely the 
effective education of all the children of the United 
States. 
(16) Because a well-educated populace is crit-
ical to the Nation’s political and economic well-being 
and national security, the Federal Government has 
a substantial interest in ensuring that States provide 
a high-quality education by ensuring that all chil-
dren have access to the fundamentals of educational 
opportunity described in section 112(a) to enable the 
children to succeed academically and in life. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are the fol-
lowing: 
(1) To further the goals of the No Child Left 
Behind Act of 2001 (Public Law 107–110) and the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 
(20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) by holding States account-
able for providing all students access to the fun-
damentals of educational opportunity described in 
section 112(a). 
(2) To ensure that all students in public ele-
mentary schools and secondary schools receive edu-
cational opportunities that enable the students— 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
01:44 Apr 29, 2006
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00010
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2178.IH
H2178
(A) to acquire the knowledge and skills 
necessary for responsible citizenship, including 
the ability to participate fully in the political 
process through informed electoral choice; 
(B) to meet challenging State student aca-
demic achievement standards; and 
(C) to be able to compete and succeed in 
a global economy. 
(3) To end the pervasive pattern of education-
ally inadequate or inequitable State public school 
systems. 
TITLE I—EDUCATIONAL OPPOR-
TUNITY 
IN 
STATE 
PUBLIC 
SCHOOL SYSTEMS 
Subtitle A—Access to Educational 
Opportunity 
SEC. 111. ADEQUATE AND EQUITABLE STATE PUBLIC 
SCHOOL SYSTEMS. 
Each State receiving Federal financial assistance for 
elementary or secondary education shall maintain a public 
school system that meets the requirements of section 112 
and provides all students in the State with— 
(1) the educational resources needed to succeed 
academically and in life; and 
(2) an education that enables the students— 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
01:44 Apr 29, 2006
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00011
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2178.IH
H2178
(A) to acquire the knowledge and skills 
necessary for responsible citizenship; 
(B) to participate fully in the political 
process through informed electoral choice; and 
(C) to be able to compete and succeed in 
a global economy. 
SEC. 112. STATE EDUCATIONAL ADEQUACY AND EQUITY 
REQUIREMENTS. 
(a) FUNDAMENTALS
OF
EDUCATIONAL
OPPOR-
TUNITY.—A State shall provide for all public schools in 
the State access, at levels defined by the State under sec-
tion 113 as ideal or adequate, to each of the following fun-
damentals of educational opportunity: 
(1) HIGH-QUALITY CLASSROOM TEACHERS AND 
SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS.—High-quality classroom 
instruction and school-level administrators, as meas-
ured by the following: 
(A) The proportion of teachers in core aca-
demic subjects who are highly qualified (as that 
term is defined in section 9101 of the Elemen-
tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 7801)). 
(B) Leadership, management, and guid-
ance from school principals (and other school- 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
01:44 Apr 29, 2006
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00012
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2178.IH
H2178