Congress Provides Historic Opportunity for Environmental Education
The President signed the Every Student Succeeds Act on Dec 10, 2015. This is the former No Child Left Behind Act, with language drawn from the No Child Left Inside Act.
We owe great thanks to Senator Reed and Congressman Sarbanes for these historic provisions. Read Congressman Sarbanes’ release on the significance of this funding: https://sarbanes.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congress-tells-schools-to-take-it-outside
Read Richard Louv’s highlights from 2015 including this historic Act: http://www.childrenandnature.org/2015/12/31/the-7-best-stories-and-trends-of-2015-for-children-families-communities-and-nature-it-was-a-very-good-year/
Here are some updates that you might find interesting:
$2.6 B grants that will be available to environmental education will be developed by the US Department of Education, under guidance from Congress, in the next several months.
US ED will write regulations that provide funding to states and/or Local Education Agencies (school systems) in partnership with environmental education organizations and agencies.
Upstream Alliance is looking to enhance implementation at the state and local level through a new program to be launched in 2016, Key Environmental Education Leaders Program (KEEL).
We are convinced that this moment will be a game changing opportunity to graduate environmentally literate students, who through outdoor field experiences will have the passion to work towards a sustainable future. We are going to leverage this victory for every gain possible.
