Below are updates on several pieces of legislation affecting K-12
science education:
FY 2004 Appropriations for Education Department Math and Science
Partnerships:
In the House, the appropriations subcommittees are beginning to draft
their FY 2004 spending bills. The Labor, HHS, Education subcommittee
has marked up its bill, which includes funding for programs within the
Department of Education. Reports indicate that the subcommittee would
provide $150 million for the Education Department's Mathematics and
Science Partnership program. This program provides funds to collaborations
of university science, math or engineering departments, state and high-need
local education authorities, and other partners, for activities to improve
K-12 science or math instruction.
The Math and Science Partnership program was authorized in President
Bush's hallmark education legislation, "No Child Left Behind,"
at $450 million. It was funded at $12.5 million in FY 2002, and received
just over $100 million for FY 2003. President Bush's FY 2004 request
for the program is $12.5 million. The House subcommittee's recommendation
of $150 million is sufficient to ensure that funds will go to all states,
and continues the progress toward the full authorization level. The
Labor-HHS-Education bill is expected to be marked up by the full House
Appropriations Committee this week. Appropriators in the Senate are
also hoping to get their Labor-HHS-Education bill marked up by both
the subcommittee and full appropriations committee before the week's
end.
As reported in FYI
#59, the American Institute and seven of its Member Societies
signed an April letter sent to Members of Congress by the K-12 Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education Coalition, which urged
appropriators to provide $200 million in FY 2004 for the Education Department's
Partnership program.
There is a complementary, but not identical, Mathematics and Science
Partnership program within NSF. Funding for this NSF Partnership program
is under the jurisdiction of the VA/HUD appropriations subcommittees,
which have not marked up their bills yet.
Teacher Loan Forgiveness Bill:
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) has introduced a bill that would increase the
amount of student loan forgiveness that would be available to teachers
of science, math, and special education. Current law states that any
teacher who receives a government loan for education can be forgiven
up to $5,000 of that student loan if he or she agrees to teach for five
years in high-need school. The "Teacher Recruitment and Retention
Act of 2003" (H.R. 438) would increase the level of loan forgiveness
to $17,500 for science, math and special education teachers. The bill
has been passed by the House Education and the Workforce Committee,
and is expected to reach the House floor after the July 4 recess.
Teacher Recruitment Bill:
The House Education and the Workforce Committee has also approved another
bill addressing recruitment and retention of teachers. The "Ready
to Teach Act of 2003" (H.R. 2211), sponsored by Rep. Phil Gingery
(R-GA), would authorize $300 million in each of the years FY 2004-2008
for competitive grants, made by the Secretary of Education, to attract
students to teaching, improve teacher preparation and professional development
programs, and help local education agencies provide merit pay for teachers
in certain fields such as science and math. According to reports, this
bill includes a provision, sponsored by Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ), that
would promote recruitment of professionals in science, math, engineering
and technology fields to K-12 science and math teaching.
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