Senate+bill+1981

=media type="file" key="Senate Bill 1981.mp3"  = =Senate 1981 =

Short Title:
No Child Left Inside Act of 2007

Official Title as Introduced:
A bill to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 regarding environmental education, and for other purposes.

People affected by the bill:
This bill will affect teachers because they will have to go through teacher training to learn about the environment and how to teach their students. Also students will be affected because they will be learning new things about the environment. This bill will also effect the secretary of education because they will be giving out grants to teach the teachers and add the new environment programs.

Link to the bill:
[|Senate bill 1981]

Summary:
The goal of this bill is to educate teachers and students about what they can do about the environment and how we are affecting it. Also it authorizes the use of fund under the Fund for the Improvement of Education program to support environmental education. This bill, if passed, will amend the Department of Education Organization Act to create an office of environmental education to advance k-12 environmental education and administer environmental education grant programs. The bill proposes a two part solution. The first solution is that schools must be given more encouragement and flexibility to develop and teach environmental education programs in science, math, language arts, and other curricular areas in the school. The second solution is the federal government must increase funding for environmental education. The funding should be targeted to training teachers, classroom and field education programs.

Official summary:
No Child Left Inside Act of 2007 - Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to require states, as a prerequisite to receiving implementation grants, to develop environmental literacy plans, approved by the Secretary of Education, for kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) that include environmental education standards and teacher training. Directs the Secretary to award Environmental Education Professional Development Grants to states and, through them, competitive subgrants to partnerships that include an LEA and, permissibly, institutions of higher education (IHE), other educational entities, or state or local natural resource or environmental agencies, for activities involving, among other things, teacher training and the operation of model environmental education programs. Authorizes the Secretary to award competitive matching grants to nonprofit organizations, states, LEAs, or IHEs for activities to improve and support environmental education that include: (1) advancing content and achievement standards; (2) developing or disseminating innovations or model programs; (3) research; and (4) creating new funding sources. Authorizes the use of grants to states out of the Teacher and Principal Training and Recruiting Fund for activities incorporating field-based learning, service learning, and outdoor experiential learning into the curricula and instruction. Authorizes the use of funds under the Fund for the Improvement of Education program to advance environmental education. Amends the Department of Education Organization Act to create an Office of Environmental Education to advance K-12 environmental education and administer environmental education grant programs.

History of the issue:
The reason this bill was created was that there isn't enough emphasis on the environment and how to take care of it. NCLB ( No Child Left Behind) puts great emphasis on reading and math which are both good things but forces many schools to abandon environmental education so they can spend more time and money in math and English. Also with the issue of global warming (The theory that when greenhouse gases are burned, they are released into the air and are creating a blanket which doesn't let them escape, overall heating the planet.), it requires Americans to understand it and find out ways to help and prevent it. Especially the students in school now who will be the ones living in the future. No Child Left Inside Act would ensure that students have a basic environmental understanding, helping them understand the main environmental challenges including global warming.

Videos:
media type="youtube" key="wRR1feHqZPY" height="344" width="425"  Get' em outside

This video explains the advantages of outdoor learning and environmental education.

Bibliography:
__No Child Left Inside__. Chesapeake Bay Foundation. 3 Dec. 2008 .

__Get 'em Outside__. 9 Apr. 2008. __YouTube__. 3 Dec. 2008 .

"S. 1981." __The Library of Congress Thomas__. 3 Dec. 2008 .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/titaniumdreads/134255644/

Gore, Al. __An Inconvenient Truth__. New York: Viking, 2006.