Reps. Hildenbrand, Accavitti, Adamini, Ball, Bennett, Brandenburg, Brown, Byrnes, Caswell, Clack, Clemente, Condino, Dillon, Elsenheimer, Espinoza, Farhat, Garfield, Gillard, Gleason, Gonzales, Green, Hansen, Hopgood, Huizenga, Jones, Kooiman, Kathleen Law, Lemmons, Jr., Mayes, Meyer, Miller, Mortimer, Murphy, Palsrok, Pearce, Phillips, Polidori, Proos, Sak, Shaffer, Sheltrown, Alma Smith, Stakoe, Stewart, Taub, Tobocman, Vagnozzi, Vander Veen, Walker, Waters, Wojno and Zelenko offered the following resolution:

            House Resolution No. 74.

            A resolution to memorialize the Congress of the United States to fully fund education program mandates.

            Whereas, The No Child Left Behind program is a historic effort that represents one of our nation's most far-reaching educational reforms.  Indeed, according to a recent General Accounting Office report, the program is designed to change the way we provide education and measure performance to assure that every child in America is provided a quality education, regardless of his or her skin color, spoken accent, or street address; and

            Whereas, Despite lofty goals, the No Child Left Behind initiative has a number of implementation challenges, many of which are impacted by a lack of adequate funding.  Indeed, the program has fostered a debate as to whether or not it is an "unfunded mandate."  As a practical matter, however, for schools across Michigan, and throughout this land, No Child Left Behind generally provides  more mandates than money; and

            Whereas, The No Child Left Behind program may be highly visible among under-funded mandates, but it is clearly not the only major educational reform to come with financial burdens; and

            Whereas, We can all agree that investment in excellence in education is a key to our nation's economic and social future. Achieving the level of performance necessary for the challenges and opportunities of the future does and will cost us money.  However, states should not be expected to shoulder additional burdens without the additional funding necessary to adequately administer a program.  Our children deserve no less; now, therefore, be it

            Resolved by the House of Representatives, That we memorialize the Congress of the United States to fully fund education program mandates; and be it further

            Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the Michigan congressional delegation.