No Child Left INSIDE Act of 2007

“We’ve heard from many environmental education experts about how the No Child Left Behind’s strong focus on testing has led many teachers to reduce the time spent on environmental sciences. This legislation will help turn our children, whose generation will ultimately be responsible for saving the planet, into environmental stewards.”

-Rep. John Sarbanes, discussing No Child Left Inside Act

With the appropriations process completed for 2008, we will begin occasionally revisiting some STEM education bills introduced in 2007. We start with the “No Child Left Inside Act,” H.R. 3036, introduced in mid-2007 by Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD). The bill would amend the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, and would specifically:

-Require states seeking new environmental education grants under No Child Left Behind to develop and submit a K-12 environmental education plan to ensure that high school graduates are environmentally literate. States receiving such funds would submit status reports on how those plans are being implemented.

-Provide new funding for states to develop, improve and advance environmental education standards.

-Provide new funding to train qualified teachers to teach environmental education courses and programs.

A Senate version of the bill was also introduced soon after the House bill, as S.1981, by Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI). Both bills were sent to the education committees in the House and Senate, and both are said to have strong support. Check our newly inaugurated "STEM Ed. Bill Database" for updates. Since the bills are amendments to NCLB, the fate of both may be determined by the larger fate of the NCLB reauthorization in 2008 (which, while uncertain, may move forward given that President Bush, Sen. Edward Kennedy and Rep. George Miller appear intent on trying).

Each of the bills allow for grants to go to local education agencies (LEAs), institutes of higher education (IHEs), and certain other education organizations. Both versions authorize $500 million over the next five years for the program; however, we should again note that bills such as this are authorization bills, not appropriations bills, meaning that the “authorized” funding level is essentially a recommendation.

The “No Child Left Inside Coalition,” made up of 115 organizations, including the Sierra Club, National Wildlife Federation and Chesapeake Bay Foundation, has started a site advocating for the No Child Left Inside Act, where more information is available. Although not a member of the Coalition, the National Education Association also supports the legislation. Vote below to express your opinion about this bill (the poll is run through Washington Watch, and reflects the votes of visitors to their site as well; you can also add your comments on the bill here).