Sec. 3. Findings and purposes

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The Congress finds the following: 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 overcome the nationwide phenomenon of educationally inadequate or inequitable State public school systems, in which high-quality public schools serve high-income communities and poor-quality schools serve low-income, urban, rural, and minority communities.

There exists in the States an ever-widening educational opportunity gap for low-income, urban, rural, and minority students characterized by the following: Highly differential educational expenditures among local educational agencies within States. Continuing disparities within the States in students’ access to the opportunity to learn indicators described in section 112(a). Radically differential educational achievement among local educational agencies within the States, as measured by the following:

Achievement in mathematics, reading or language arts, and science on State academic achievement tests and measures, including the academic assessments described in section 113(b)(1). Advanced placement courses offered and taken. Scholastic Aptitude Test

(SAT)and ACT Assessment scores. Dropout rates and graduation rates. College-going and college-completion rates. Job placement and retention rates and indices of job quality. As a consequence of this educational opportunity 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 imposed particularly on— children from low-income families; children living in urban and rural areas; and minority children. 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 imposed upon every State, as a fundamental condition of the State’s admission, the following requirements: One, and sometimes two, square-mile lots in every township were to be granted and … reserved for the maintenance and use of public schools . [S]chools and the means of education [are to] be forever encouraged . 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 establishment 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., 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 Dakota Territories); and the Acts of Congress pertaining to the admission of each of the States.) Over the years since the landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, when a unanimous United States Supreme Court held that the opportunity of an education … , where the state has undertaken 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 establishment, maintenance, and operation of educationally inadequate or inequitable State public school systems. (347 U.S. 483, 493 (1954)). In 1970, the Presidential Commission on School Finance found that significant disparities in the distribution of educational resources existed among local educational agencies within States because the States relied too significantly on local district financing 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. In 1999, the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences published a report entitled Making Money Matter, Financing America’s Schools , which found that the concept of funding adequacy, which moves beyond the more traditional 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. In 2001, the Executive order establishing the President’s Commission on Educational Resource Equity declared, A quality education is essential to the success of every child in the 21st century 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.) According to the Secretary of Education, as stated in a letter (with enclosures) dated January 19, 2002, from the Secretary to States— racial and ethnic minorities continue to suffer from lack of access to educational resources, including experienced and qualified teachers, adequate facilities, and instructional programs and support, including technology, as well as … the funding necessary to secure these resources ; and these inadequacies are particularly acute in high-poverty schools, including urban schools, where many students of color are isolated 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 . 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— States must establish standards and assessments in mathematics, reading or language arts, and science; elementary schools and secondary schools must ensure that all students are proficient in such subjects within 12 years after the end of the 2001–2002 school year; and elementary schools and secondary schools will be held accountable for the students’ progress. The standards and accountability movement will succeed only if, in addition to standards and accountability, all schools have access to the educational resources necessary to enable students to achieve. Raising standards without ensuring adequate and equitable access to educational resources may, in fact, exacerbate achievement gaps and set children up for failure. 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. Each State Government has ultimate authority in determining every important aspect and priority of the public school system that provides elementary and secondary education to children in the State, including whether children throughout the State have high access to the opportunity to learn indicators described in section 112(a). Since 1965, the Congress, in exercising its spending authority, has provided substantial Federal financial assistance to the States for the improvement of their public school systems. In their expenditure 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. Because a well-educated populace is critical 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 children have access to the opportunity to learn indicators described in section 112(a) to enable the children to succeed academically and in life. The purposes of this Act are the following: 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 accountable for providing all students access to the opportunity to learn indicators described in section 112(a). To ensure that all students in public elementary schools and secondary schools receive educational opportunities that enable the students— to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for responsible citizenship, including the ability to participate fully in the political process through informed electoral choice; to meet challenging State student academic achievement standards; and to be able to compete and succeed in a global economy. To end the pervasive pattern of educationally inadequate or inequitable State public school systems.

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