While the need for environmental education is well documented and continues to grow, the overall level of federal support for Environmental Education in both policy and funding is considerably short of an even minimal level.  Although complementary, the No Child Left Inside Act and the National EE Act provide fundamentally different things for the field.   Here is a short characterization of each and why they are both so critical.

The proposed No Child Left Inside Act will put environmental education back into the classroom, having been an inadvertent victim of the NCLB Act.   It will provide three important elements, all within the formal education structure of the US:

• Federal funding to states to train teachers in environmental education and to operate model environmental education programs, which includes outdoor learning.
• Funding to states that create environmental literacy plans to ensure that high school graduates are environmentally literate.
• Funding through an environmental education grant program to build state and national capacity.

Given that NCLB is actually the Elementary and Secondary Education Act – to date there has not been any provision for environmental education within the largest federally funded education program. This bill would provide for environmental education to be integrated across the curriculum in keeping with each state’s wishes with no mandatory requirements.

The National Environmental Education Act, passed originally in 1990, and technically expired in 1996, has provided the only consistent federal funding for environmental education. Envisioned to achieve an environmentally literate citizenry, it operates from a small office for environmental education in US EPA.   With limited funding it:  is providing a multi-partnered training program which has provided professional development annually for tens of thousands of non-formal educators and has impacted formal education primarily from outside the formal education structure; created the National Environmental Education Foundation; and offered a small but strategic grants program.  NEEA has directed its efforts at enhancing environmental literacy across the entire age spectrum for lifelong learning – to the entire population with limited direct emphasis on the formal K-12 education structure.  This is partially due to the fact it administered by EPA.  The NEEA has provided critical support and has helped to keep environmental education alive while formal education has not had either policy or funding support for environmental education from the US Department of Education.

National surveys have repeatedly shown extremely broad support for environmental education both within the school curriculum and for the public, and yet at the same time these surveys show glaring ignorance of basic environmental knowledge.  To address our nation’s growing needs for environmentally literate citizens, we need both the NEEA and NCLI.  NCLI focuses on strengthening environmental education within formal education. The NEEA is broader in scope and addresses lifelong learning. Both programs are essential strategic responses to Americans’ growing desire for their children to understand and enjoy the natural environment and for all citizens to have access to the knowledge they need to be able to make intelligent decisions about their lifestyles and about  public policy regarding the environment.  Comprehensive environmental education in schools and throughout life will make for a more competitive international business climate, better civic involvement, and better education.  Consistently research has shown that when environment is used as an integrating context in education, performance on standardized tests goes up.  Please support both NCLI and the NEEA to make environmental education effective in the US!