This Announcement is posted via the EdGateway EE Electronic Newswire. Funded through EETAP, it is presented as a service of WestEd and of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The following press release is provided courtesy of the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation (NEETF; www.neetf.org) Senate Passes John Chafee Act of 2001 * a Bill to Reauthorize the National Environmental Education Act of 1990 Bi-partisan group of legislators agree on $65,000,000 package for environmental education for both adults and children. Last week, bill co-champions Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY) along with cosponsors Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), Joe Lieberman (D-CT), Harry Reid (D-NV), Bob Smith (R-NH), and John Warner (R-VA) succeeded in passing the Chafee Environmental Education Act as part of S. 1, The National Elementary and Secondary Education Act Reauthorization. The legislation memorializes the late Senator John Chafee, an original sponsor of the legislation when it first passed in 1990. Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), the new Chair of the Senate education committee supported the inclusion of the amendment in S.1. The legislation embodies the principal federal program that acknowledges and supports environmental education and training. It will now go to the U.S. House of Representatives for consideration. Included in the bill are grants for K-12 education in both a formal and non-formal setting, funds to improve the capacity of teachers to address environmental subjects, support for the Environmental Protection Agency*s Office of Environmental Education, White House Council on Environmental Quality Teacher Awards and challenge-grant funds for administration by the National Environmental Education &Training Foundation. NEETF leverages its 10% of the funding on a 20-to-one basis. Funds for professional training are also covered under the legislation. These total $10,000,000 a year. The Bill also includes a new $3,000,000 annual grants program for higher education institutions. The total reauthorization level is $13,000,000 annually for five years. If you have information of interest to environmental educators that you would like posted, please contact Art Sussman at [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- This is the ISTA-talk mailing list. To unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For more information: <http://www.ista-il.org/ista-talk.asp> To search the archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/>
