Here's the enrolled version. None of the goofy amendments got on, of course. But it gives me a sound feeling to see it was so.

Or to quote Laura in Laura Ingalls Wilder's "The Fourth of July", pp 63-85 (Harpers Trophy Edition: New York, 1971) -- with a Dillon background sentence first:

At the 4th of July celebration in Little Town on the Prairie, the Declaration was read aloud by an elder.

"Laura and Carrie knew the Declaration by heart, of course, but it gave them a solemn, glorious feeling to hear the words. They took hold of hands and stood listening in the solemnly listening crowd. The Stars and Stripes were fluttering bright against the thin, clear blue overhead, and their minds were saying the words before their ears heard them."

Someday in the future, these words of liberty and our Founding will resonate in the minds of young Floridians, their teachers and principals wherever they are.

Sincerely,

Bill Dillon

PS The Ingalls short story should be mandatory reading for all who wish to get the Declaration into our schools. Most moving and motivational.

ENROLLED
2002 Legislature CS/HB 885

An act relating to recitation of the Declaration of Independence; creating s. 233.0659, F.S.; requiring Celebrate Freedom Week to be recognized in the public schools each September; requiring a portion of the Declaration of Independence to be recited daily by students during that week; providing for excusal of a student from performing the required recitation; providing an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

Section 1. Section 233.0659, Florida Statutes, is created to read:
233.0659 Recitation of the Declaration of Independence.--

(1) To educate students about the sacrifices made for freedom in the founding of this country and the values on which this country was founded, the last full week of classes in September shall be recognized in public schools as Celebrate Freedom Week. Celebrate Freedom Week must include at least 3 hours of appropriate instruction in each social studies class, as determined by each school district, which instruction shall include an in-depth study of the intent, meaning, and importance of the Declaration of Independence.

(2) To emphasize the importance of this week, at the beginning of each school day or in homeroom, during the last full week of September, public school principals and teachers shall conduct an oral recitation by students of the following words of the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

(3) Student recitation of this statement shall serve to reaffirm the American ideals of individual liberty.

(4) Upon written request by a student's parent, the student must be excused from the recitation of the Declaration of Independence.