For many years I celebrated Constitution Day alone, usually holding signs in public places. Here is a report on one such day. But with my work and a growing number of others, the celebration has been growing ever larger in quality and numbers of participants. This year, it seems for the first time, we have events at or near educational institutions in every state and the District of Columbia, announced through websites. Last year many such events were low-profile, involving only members of educational and civic groups, with little outreach to the public. This year the public is everywhere invited and there is media coverage before, during, and after the events.
We have collected as many such events as we could find at http://constitution-day.org/events
In 2004 Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) got an amendment to the statute that designates September 17 each year as Constitution Day. The Byrd Amendment requires that "each educational institution that receives federal funds for a fiscal year shall hold an educational program on the United States Constitution on Sept. 17 of each year for the students served by the educational institution." It provides that if the day falls on a holiday it may be observed the week preceding or following.
The Department of Education issued an implementing regulation that the amendment "applies to all educational institutions receiving federal funding, not only those receiving funding from the Department." So a grant from the National Institutes of Health or the National Endowment for the Humanities (which also offers grants specifically for Constitution Day celebrations) are at risk of being forfeited if a recipient fails to observe Constitution Day as the amendment provides.
What you might do
Call all the schools in your area that probably receive federal funds and ask them what they are doing to comply with the statute to hold constitution day celebrations. If they are doing nothing, or very little, suggest that they could lose federal funding if they don't comply, and follow up with a letter to the Department of Education, Office of the Inspector General, informing them the school is not in compliance, together with an online complaint, and that the school should be reviewed for whether federal funding should be discontinued. Send a copy to the school. Then follow up to see if an event is being organized.
Some have criticized me for promoting this event by leveraging the federal funds pressure, and even argued that the Byrd requirement for constitution day celebrations is unconstitutional. Others have argued that it does not go far enough.
2013/09/16
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