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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION ON EDUCATION

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2016 GENERAL SESSION

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STATE OF UTAH

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Chief Sponsor: J. Stuart Adams

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House Sponsor: David E. Lifferth

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7     LONG TITLE
8     General Description:
9          This resolution honors the limits of federal power related to education as set forth in the
10     Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
11     Highlighted Provisions:
12          This resolution:
13          ▸     declares that parents should have decision making authority over primary and
14     secondary education in the state;
15          ▸     notes that the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution limits the
16     authority of the federal government to those powers enumerated in the Constitution,
17     which do not include education;
18          ▸     urges the United States Congress to end all current and prohibit any further
19     interference with state decisions regarding education by the United States
20     Department of Education; and
21          ▸     demands the prohibition of federal programs that incentivize states to adopt certain
22     academic standards or that require states to pass specific education legislation in
23     order to maintain federal funding.
24     Special Clauses:
25          None
26     

27     Be it resolved by the Legislature of the state of Utah, the Governor concurring therein:
28          WHEREAS, the Utah Legislature finds that the first principle of education, and
29     therefore of education policymaking, is that parents are the primary educators of their children

30     and should have decision making authority over elementary and secondary education in the
31     state of Utah to the greatest extent possible;
32          WHEREAS, the Utah Legislature trusts that educators in Utah are better equipped than
33     politicians or bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., to determine academic content for their
34     students and to ensure the success of each child enrolled in a Utah public school;
35          WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution declares that
36     "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
37     States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people";
38          WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment defines the scope of federal power as being that
39     specifically granted by the United States Constitution and no more;
40          WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment unequivocally sets forth that we, the people of the
41     United States of America, and each state in the Union, now have, and have always had, powers
42     that the federal government may not usurp;
43          WHEREAS, nowhere in the United States Constitution is the federal government
44     delegated the power to regulate or fund elementary or secondary education;
45          WHEREAS, because education is not an enumerated power delegated to the federal
46     government by the United States Constitution, it is reserved to the states or to the people;
47          WHEREAS, a federal role in education is a violation of the original intent of the United
48     States Constitution and the Tenth Amendment; and
49          WHEREAS, the Utah Legislature, which is directly accountable to the citizens of Utah,
50     is the appropriate body to empower parents and educators to determine academic content, free
51     from any pressure, constraints, or directives from the United States Department of Education:
52          NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of the state of Utah, the
53     Governor concurring therein, urges the United States Congress to end all current and prohibit
54     any further interference by the United States Department of Education with state decisions
55     regarding academic content, standards, or assessments and repeal and prohibit all compulsory
56     federal legislation that interferes with the state of Utah's constitutional authority over
57     educational standards and materials through civil threat, sanctions, criminal penalty, or loss of

58     federal funding distributed by allocations or grants.
59          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature and the Governor demand the
60     repeal and prohibition of federal programs that incentivize states to adopt certain academic
61     standards or that require states to pass specific education legislation in order to maintain, apply
62     for, or receive federal funding and assert that it is the duty of the Legislature to exercise its
63     constitutional authority to resist and overturn any interference relating to Utah's academic
64     standards, assessments, and educational materials by the United States Department of
65     Education or the United States Congress.
66          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this resolution be sent to the President of
67     the United States, the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United
68     States House of Representatives, and the members of Utah's congressional delegation.