Environmental Education in the No Child Left Behind Act

Take Action: Tell Congress to support including environmental education in NCLB

No Child Left Inside Act of 2007 (PDF)

Briefing Book: Reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act:
A Case of Urgency for Environmental Education (March 2007)

Environmental issues such as global warming, energy challenges and sustainability are now prominent in the media, halls of Congress, and elsewhere. But students are hearing less and less about these issues in schools. Why? The federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) forces schools to curtail or abandon environmental education, while at the same time, the amount of federal funding for environmental education remains paltry and inadequate.

Environmental education slowly but steadily increased for three decades until NCLB was enacted in 2002. NCLB expires this year and must be reauthorized by Congress. This offers us a golden opportunity to bring environmental education back to classrooms nationwide by getting EE included in the new bill. The Campaign for Environmental Literacy, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, National Wildlife Federation, North American Association for Environmental Education, and others are working to change NCLB and increase funding for environmental education.

The Problem
NCLB was enacted to give teachers greater authority and flexibility in exchange for more accountability. However, the law places great emphasis on reading and math and requires stringent testing of students on these two subjects. This forces many schools to abandon environmental education programs to invest more time and money in math and language arts. Science teachers, for example, feel pressure to bypass environmental science and other subject areas that do not relate directly to all-important state tests. They also feel the need to forego valuable field experiences for the students, as these take time away from test-related instruction.

Environmental education also is hamstrung by a lack of funding. For example, the National Environmental Education Act, the primary source of federal support for K-12 environmental education, provided less than $5 million in grant funding in 2007— an average expenditure of under $100,000 for each state. Learn more about the problem here.

The Solution
We propose a two-pronged solution. First, schools must be given more encouragement and flexibility to develop and deliver environmental education programs in science, math, language arts, and other curricular areas. Second, the federal government must increase funding for environmental education. The funding should be targeted to teacher training, classroom and field education programs, research and assessment, and strategic initiatives to advance the field. Learn more about the solution here.

Status
Congressman John Sarbanes (D- MD) and Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) have each introduced a version of the No Child Left Inside Act that would amend NCLB to include our proposed solutions above. The Sarbanes bill (HR 3036) has attracted 43 co-sponsors since it was introduced in July, 2007; and the Reed bill (S 1981) has attracted 13 co-sponsors since its introduction in September, 2007. Our hope is that the growing political momentum behind each of these will encourage the House Education and Labor Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to include the No Child Left Inside provisions in their respective proposals for a new No Child Left Behind act.

As always, the chances this will happen grow significantly if you add your voice to the thousands of others who have contacted their members to urge them to support these bills by clicking here.

Current Co-sponsors of the "No Child Left Inside" Act (as of May 4, 2008) 14 Senators – (S.1981) Sen Cardin, Benjamin [MD] Sen Collins, Susan M. [ME] Sen Dodd, Christopher J. [CT] Sen Durbin, Richard [IL] Sen Kerry, John F. [MA] Sen Lautenberg, Frank R [NJ] Sen Lincoln, Blanche L. [AR] Sen Menendez, Robert [NJ] Sen Mikulski, Barbara A. [MD] Sen Salazar, Ken [CO] Sen Sanders, Bernard [VT] Sen Snowe, Olympia J. [ME] Sen Whitehouse, Sheldon [RI] Sen Wyden, Ron [OR] 43 Congresspeople (HR 3036) Rep Allen, Tom [ME-1] Rep Baldwin, Tammy [WI-2] Rep Berman, Howard L. [CA-28] Rep Bordallo, Madelein Z. [GU] Rep Braley, Bruce L. [IA-1] Rep Clarke, Yvette D. [NY-11] Rep Clay, Wm. Lacy [MO-1] Rep Cummings, Elijah [MD-7] Rep DeGette, Dianna [CO-1] Rep Delahunt, William D. [MA-10] Rep Davis, Susan A. [CA-53] Rep Eshoo, Anna G. [CA-14] Rep Etheridge, Bob [NC-2] Rep Farr, Sam [CA-17] Rep Filner, Bob [CA-51] Rep Grijalva, Raul M. [AZ-7] Rep Hare, Phil [IL-17] Rep Hirono, Mazie K. [HI-2] Rep Hinchey, Maurice D [NY-22] Rep Honda, Michael M. [CA-15] Rep Kind, Ron [WI-3] Rep Lee, Barbara [CA-9] Rep Lewis, John [GA-5] Rep LoBiondo, Frank A. [NJ-2] Rep Lofgren, Zoe [CA-16] Rep McGovern, James [MA-3] Rep. McNerney, Jerry [CA-11] Rep. Moran, James P. [VA-8] Rep. Olver, John W. [MA-1] Rep Payne, Donald M. [NJ-10] Rep Perlmutter, Ed [CO-7] Rep Reyes, Silvestre [TX-16] Rep Rothman, Steve [NJ-9] Rep Sarbanes, John [MD-3] Rep Saxton, Jim [NJ-3] Rep. Scott, Robert C. "Bobby" [VA-3] Rep Sestak, Joe [PA-7] Rep Shea-Porter, Carol [NH-1] Rep Sires, Albio [NJ-13] Rep Stark, Fortney Pete [CA-13] Rep Van Hollen, Chris [MD-8] Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. [CA-6] Rep Wu, David [OR-1] Rep. Wynn, Albert Russell [MD-4]