No Child Left Inside
No
Child Left Inside Act (HR3036)
The House Education and Labor Committee approved an amended version
of the No Child Left Inside Act (HR 3036) on June 18, 2008 in a
relatively bipartisan vote. NCLI originally amended the No Child
Left Behind Act (NCLB). But with reauthorization of NCLB stuck in
both the House and Senate, the Committee stripped all but a few
provisions from the original bill introduced by Congressman John
Sarbanes so that it no longer amends NCLB. Instead, it reauthorizes
the long expired (but still funded by Congress) National Environmental
Education Act of 1990 for one year, with the 1995 appropriation
level of $14 million.
The two significant provisions left in the new version from the
original NCLI bill by the Committee are:
1. the National EE Capacity Building Grants program, which will
be administered by the Department of Education and which the new
bill allows Congress to fund outside the $14 million cap for the
rest of the bill’s programs. States as well as NGOS and schools
may apply for these grants; however, to receive these funds, a state
must have an approved environmental literacy plan in place or use
the funds to create one.
2. Some of the original uses of teacher training funds have been
incorporated into the purposes of the NEEA’s Environmental
Education and Training Program.
The bill is expected to go to a vote in the full House of Representatives
September 9th, 2008. While chances of subsequent Senate action and
passage on this bill are slim, it is nonetheless important to rally
support for this bill to build momentum for next year.
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