SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 25

51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2013

INTRODUCED BY

Bill B. O'Neill and Nate Gentry

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING CONGRESS TO CONSIDER THE EDUCATION FOR ALL ACT OF 2011.

     WHEREAS, children in New Mexico are guaranteed a uniform system of free public schools under Article 12, Section 1 of the constitution of New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, in all of the United States, the free public school system guarantees all children equal educational opportunities regardless of gender, race, religion or socioeconomic status; and

     WHEREAS, education is recognized by the United Nations as a basic human right; and

     WHEREAS, Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights decrees that compulsory and free education in the elementary and fundamental stages is the right of every child; and

     WHEREAS, the United Nations millennium development goals, to which the United States is a signatory, include the target that "by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling"; and

     WHEREAS, Pakistani Malala Yousafzai, a teenager who was almost killed for her education activism, and other children of developing countries, as well as their parents, exhibit a desire for education and a willingness to sacrifice comfort and sometimes risk their lives in pursuit of education; and

     WHEREAS, studies show that educating children confers benefits on the population as a whole, as higher rates of primary education are correlated with lower rates of food insecurity and human immunodeficiency virus infection; and

     WHEREAS, studies also show that every year of schooling results in a twenty percent reduction in an adolescent boy's risk of becoming involved in conflict; and

     WHEREAS, supporting education in developing and conflict-ridden nations will provide an opportunity for millions to escape poverty, disease and conflict, thereby promoting global health, economic security and political stability; and

     WHEREAS, United States security and prosperity are enhanced by lowering tensions and unrest in developing countries, thereby limiting the necessity for armed interventions; and

     WHEREAS, United States' interests are best served by using its development aid appropriations in the most efficient ways possible, including working with other donor countries in multilateral efforts; and

     WHEREAS, the United States includes education aid in the money designated specifically for foreign assistance and benefits from using that money in the most efficient and effective manner possible; and

     WHEREAS, maximizing the benefit of foreign aid dollars through the federal Education for All Act of 2011 would not negatively affect the resources available for New Mexico's children and schools; and

     WHEREAS, the bipartisan Education for All Act of 2011 would amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to promote primary education in developing countries as an objective of United States foreign assistance policy; and

     WHEREAS, universal access to quality primary education for children is as important for societies around the world as it is for people in the United States; and

     WHEREAS, the New Mexico chapters of the national education association, the American federation of teachers, the New Mexico association for the education of young children and the New Mexico public health association have endorsed the Education for All Act of 2011;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the members of the New Mexico congressional delegation be requested to consider and to support the Education for All Act of 2011 and any successors in future United States congressional sessions, as such bills may be renamed; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the members of the New Mexico congressional delegation.

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