Issue Description
The Goals 2000: Educate America Act (Public Law 103-227) was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on March 31, 1994. Goals 2000 was enacted to give grants to states and local education agencies, provided that the state or local education agencies adopted the educational goals of the Act. HSLDA opposed Goals 2000 from it's inception because it is our strong believe that parents-not the federal government-should be setting the educational goals for their children. Thankfully, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001; H.R.1 expunged the remaining portions of the Goals 2000 program, and the Fiscal year 2002 Education Appropriations Conference Committee report eliminated the remaining funds for Goals 2000.

Issue Background
Goals 2000 began in 1989 when several state governors, concerned about the ailing state of America's public schools, proposed a solution: "Goals 2000." The program's purpose was to set educational goals for the nation's public schools to be achieved by the year 2000, create a framework for implementing the goals, and provide incentives for the states to cooperate in meeting the goals. By 1994, all eight national goals were in place and Goals 2000 was an official federal program.

Although these goals appeared safe and supportive of education, many conservatives, including homeschoolers, and HSLDA identified dangerous pitfalls in Goals 2000.