Celebrate Freedom Week
House Bill 885, passed by the 2002 Florida Legislature, created Section
233.0659, Florida Statues, requiring Celebrate Freedom Week to be recognized
in the public schools each September and requiring a portion of the
Declaration of Independence to be recited daily by students during that week.
The last full week of classes in September shall be recognized in public
schools as Celebrate Freedom Week.
During the last full week of September, at the beginning of each school day,
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."
Upon written request by a student’s parent, the student must be excused from
the recitation of the Declaration of Independence.

The intent of this legislation is to educate students about the sacrifices
made for freedom in the founding of this country and the values on which this
country was founded.