97-24329. America Goes Back to School, 1997

[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 176 (Thursday, September 11, 1997)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 47911-47912]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-24329]



[[Page 47909]]

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Part VI





The President





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Proclamation 7018--America Goes Back to School, 1997


                        Presidential Documents 



Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 176 / Thursday, September 11, 1997 / 
Presidential Documents

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Title 3--
The President

[[Page 47911]]

                Proclamation 7018 of September 8, 1997

                
America Goes Back to School, 1997

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Americans want the best for our children. We want them 
                to live out their dreams, empowered with the tools they 
                need to make the most of their lives and to build a 
                future where America remains the world's beacon of hope 
                and freedom and opportunity. To do this, we must all 
                make improving the quality of education in America one 
                of our highest priorities.

                In my State of the Union Address earlier this year, I 
                issued a call to action for American education to 
                prepare our Nation for the 21st century. Working 
                together, we must make our schools strong and safe, 
                with clear standards of achievement and discipline and 
                talented, dedicated teachers in every classroom. Every 
                school and every State should adopt rigorous national 
                standards, with national tests in 4th-grade reading and 
                8th-grade math to make sure our children master the 
                basics. We must ensure that every student can read 
                independently and well by the end of the 3rd grade. We 
                must connect every classroom and library to the 
                Internet by the year 2000 and help all students become 
                technologically literate. We must modernize school 
                buildings and expand school choice and accountability 
                in public education. And we must encourage lifelong 
                learning for all our citizens, from expanding Head 
                Start programs to helping adults improve their 
                education and skills.

                These goals are ambitious, but they are crucial if we 
                are to prepare for the challenges and possibilities of 
                life in the 21st century. With the 1997 balanced budget 
                agreement, we will begin to meet these goals by 
                providing new resources to help children learn to read, 
                the means to help connect every school to the Internet, 
                and tens of billions of dollars in tax cuts to help 
                families pay for college.

                I urge all Americans to become actively involved in 
                their local schools and colleges and to make a real 
                commitment to support education improvement and give 
                our children the kind of support they need to succeed. 
                The Partnership for Family Involvement in Education is 
                setting a powerful example in this endeavor. These 
                partners--including the Department of Education and 
                more than 3,000 schools, families, colleges and 
                universities, community, cultural, and religious 
                groups, businesses, elected officials and policymakers, 
                and the men and women of our Armed Forces--have pledged 
                their support for our initiative, ``America Goes Back 
                to School: Answering the President's Call to Action.'' 
                Through their dedication to our children, they are 
                helping America's young people grow into responsible 
                and productive citizens. They are proving that when 
                communities unite, every student can achieve.

[[Page 47912]]

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the 
                United States of America, by virtue of the authority 
                vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United 
                States, do hereby proclaim September 8 through 
                September 14, 1997, as a time when America Goes Back to 
                School. I encourage parents, schools, community and 
                State leaders, businesses, civic and religious 
                organizations, and the people of the United States to 
                observe this week with appropriate ceremonies and 
                activities expressing support for high academic 
                standards and meaningful involvement in schools and 
                colleges and the students and families they serve.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                eighth day of September, in the year of our Lord 
                nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and of the 
                Independence of the United States of America the two 
                hundred and twenty-second.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 97-24329
Filed 9-10-97; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P