Much attention has been focused recently on conferees' attempts to
reconcile competing versions of the Elementary and Secondary Education
Act (H.R. 1, known as "ESEA"), which will reform many Department of
Education programs. Significant progress has also been made in the last
two weeks on the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill, which provide
the actual funding for these programs. The appropriators were generous
with education funding on the whole, but the House and Senate
appropriations bills vary greatly on how much funding they would provide
for initiatives to improve science and math education.
Now that the White House and congressional leaders have agreed upon
an additional $4 billion above the budget resolution for education
programs (see FYI
#124), appropriators have moved rapidly. The full House passed its
Labor-HHS bill, H.R. 3061, on October 11. On the same day, the Senate
Appropriations Committee passed its bill, S. 1536. Once the full Senate
passes its bill, a conference committee will meet to agree upon a final
version.
Of particular interest to the science community is funding for the
improvement of science and math education. Within the Department of
Education, this was previously addressed by the Eisenhower program,
which provided money for teacher professional development. Last year,
Eisenhower funding was $485 million, with $250 million set aside
specifically for professional development in science and math. This
year, the Eisenhower program has been eliminated, with teacher
professional development consolidated with other programs into a larger
category entitled "Teacher Quality." As for specific funding for
instruction in science and math, both the House and Senate
appropriations bills include money for a new initiative, the Math and
Science Partnerships, which would provide competitive grants to
partnerships of university math or science departments, state education
agencies, local school districts, and possibly other partners, to
improve math and science education (see FYI #80). The
partnerships can support teacher professional development but also a
range of other activities; therefore, appropriations for the
partnerships cannot be compared directly to last year's Eisenhower
professional development math and science set-aside of $250 million.
For FY 2002, the House appropriations bill calls for the partnerships
to receive funding of between $476 million and $635 million.
For FY 2002, the Senate appropriations bill would only provide $25
million for the partnerships.
In the Senate Appropriations Committee's report accompanying its
bill, the committee acknowledges the value of improving the performance
of students and teachers in the areas of math and science, but does not
indicate why the recommended funding level is significantly lower than
the House's mark. According to a Senate appropriations staffer, the
committee hopes to see the amount increased in conference.
Appropriators in the House followed the House-passed version of ESEA
in designating how the partnerships would be funded: states are directed
to award between 15 and 20 percent of the Teacher Quality funds they
receive "on a competitive basis to eligible partnerships for math and
science programs." Of the total amount of $3.175 billion to be
distributed among the states for Teacher Quality funding, this means
that between 15-20 percent, or $476- 635 million, would be available for
the partnerships. This tracks closely with the funding levels
recommended in the House version of ESEA.
Senate appropriators followed the Senate-passed version of ESEA in
designating that the Math and Science Partnership funds be awarded as
competitive grants by the Secretary of Education rather than by the
states, but while the Senate ESEA bill would authorize $900 million to
be used for the partnerships, the Senate Appropriations Committee would
only provide an appropriation of $25 million for them.
The full Senate is expected to take up the Labor-HHS bill next week,
but things are uncertain on Capitol Hill these days. It has just been
reported that the House will remain closed all this week for security
reasons.
Accompanying H.R. 3061 and S. 1536 are the Appropriations Committees'
reports, explaining their funding recommendations. Relevant portions of
the committee reports will be provided in FYI #129.
Audrey T. Leath
Media and Government Relations
Division
American Institute of Physics
fyi@aip.org
(301) 209-3094
