Update on Items of Interest: Eisenhower Program; NASA; NIST Funding

Recent action has taken place on several items of interest to the science community. Yesterday, the Administration released its proposal for reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), which includes teacher professional development in math and science education. Also yesterday, the full House passed H.R. 1654, the three-year NASA Authorization Act of 1999. Today, the Senate is scheduled to take up H.R. 1141, a supplemental FY 1999 appropriations bill which would, among other things, extend appropriations for the Departments of Commerce, Justice and State through the end of fiscal year 1999.

Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA): This act authorizes Department of Education K-12 programs, including the Eisenhower Professional Development program for teacher training in science and math. ESEA is due for reathorization this year, and yesterday the Clinton Administration revealed its proposal for reauthorizing the programs. Under the Administration’s plan, the Eisenhower program would be rolled into a new grant program entitled “Teaching to High Standards.” Current funding for the Eisenhower program is $335 million, with the first $250 million earmarked for science and math training. The new program would earmark $300 million for science and math, with the rest of the funds to go to teacher development in other core academic content areas.

According to the Department of Education, the proposal will continue to “support high-quality professional development activities previously supported by the Eisenhower Professional Development program” and “increase assured federal support for professional development in the priority subjects of mathematics and science.” The proposal will incorporate data from a recent national evaluation of the Eisenhower program, and build on the most successful elements of that program.

NASA Authorization Act of 1999: The House yesterday approved, by a 259-168 vote, H.R. 1654, a bill authorizing NASA programs for fiscal years 2000-2002. As reported in FYI #88 , the House bill would authorize more FY 2000 funding than requested by the Administration for Space Science ($2,202.4 million) and Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications ($333.6 million). For the International Space Station (ISS), the bill would authorize the full FY 2000 request of $2,482.7 million. Several amendments to reduce or cancel the ISS project were defeated by a substantial bipartisan majority. The bill would authorize less than requested for NASA’s Earth Science programs, due to removal of funds for high performance computing (to be authorized in a separate bill), and to termination of the Triana project. Although Democrats reported that NASA head Dan Goldin might recommend a veto of the bill based on termination of Triana, no one offered an amendment on the floor to salvage the program. NASA’s academic programs would be authorized at $128.6 million for FY 2000, up from a request of $100 million.

NIST FY 1999 Appropriations: Because of controversy over use of sampling in the 2000 Census, appropriations for the Departments of Commerce, Justice and State were approved only through June 15 of this year. This deadline affected NIST and NOAA, which are both run by the Commerce Department. However, an agreement to fund these departments for the rest of the fiscal year was reached as part of the FY 1999 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, H.R. 1141. This legislation, which provides supplemental funding for disaster relief and the Defense Department, including operations in Kosovo, was approved by the House on May 18, and is scheduled for debate in the Senate beginning today.