This is the time of year when most Members of Congress make known
their funding priorities to their colleagues on the appropriations
committees. At least four different "Dear Colleague" letters have been,
or soon will be, sent to Labor-HHS- Education appropriators to urge
greater FY 2003 funding than requested for the Department of Education's
Math and Science Partnerships. These letters demonstrate bipartisan,
bicameral support for this program to improve science and math education
in school districts across the country. The program received significant
congressional support from authorizers last year, when it was authorized
at $450 million in the 2001 "No Child Left Behind" education reform
bill, but it received only $12.5 million in FY 2002 appropriations.
Another $12.5 million has been requested by the Bush Administration for
FY 2003.
A letter by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), to be sent to Chairman Tom
Harkin (D-IA) and Ranking Member Arlen Specter (R-PA) of the Senate
Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee, states in
part:
"Both the House and the Senate recognized the critical
importance of improving math and science education at all grade levels
by authorizing the Math and Science Partnerships in the No Child Left
Behind Act of 2001. The program is designed to provide math and
science teachers with intensive, career-long professional development
through study, research, and interaction with scientists,
mathematicians, and engineers in higher education and industry.
Partnerships will also develop more rigorous science and math
curricula to ensure that all students meet state standards and the
skill level expected for post- secondary study of math, science, and
engineering. The activities authorized under the Math and Science
Partnerships reflect many of the recommendations of the Glenn
Commission report."
"Unfortunately, only $12.5 million was appropriated to the
partnerships for FY 2002. This falls far short of the minimum
commitment of $100 million needed to ensure that every state receives
the resources to design and implement Math and Science
Partnerships.... In addition, the No Child Left Behind Act
consolidated funding for the Eisenhower Math and Science Professional
Development program within the Title II Teacher Quality block grant.
This means that dedicated funding for math and science professional
development has significantly decreased from FY 2001 levels. States
have the option of using their Teacher Quality funds for math and
science, and last year's Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee report urges
states to spend no less on math and science professional development
than they had in the previous fiscal year, but this does not guarantee
funding for the Math and Science Partnerships.... We urge you to
provide a significant increase in funding to address the nation's
needs in math and science education."
So far, seven Democratic senators and one Independent have co-signed
Durbin's letter.
In an effort spearheaded by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), eleven
senators on the Senate Republican High Tech Task Force also wrote to
Harkin and Specter this month, noting that,
"in addition to being important to the education community,
this program is a priority for the technology community. A highly
educated workforce is critical to ensuring that American companies
continue to be competitive in the global
economy."
In the House, 32 members of the New Democrat Coalition, led by Reps.
Cal Dooley (D-CA) and John Larson (D-CT), sent a letter to
appropriations leaders,
"to urge our strong support for full funding for the math
science partnerships authorized under Title II, Part B of the No Child
Left Behind Act of 2001.... Although Congress authorized $450 million
for the program in the NCLB, only $12.5 million was appropriated,
which is a 95 percent decrease in dedicated federal funding for math
and science in the Department of Education funding." The letter
concludes, "The NCLB Act is a comprehensive overhaul of federal
education policy.... Let's not do half of the job. Let's make an
investment that will pay off for America's
future."
Rep. Vern Ehlers (R-MI) has also drafted a letter to Labor-HHS-
Education Appropriations Chairman Ralph Regula (R-OH) and Ranking Member
David Obey (D-WI), urging them "to include a substantial increase for
the Department of Education's (ED) Math and Science Partnership
program."
Ehlers' letter, which has 19 co-signers so far, explains the
difference between the Math and Science Partnerships in NSF and those in
the Education Department:
"Last year, Congress appropriated $160 million for Math and
Science partnerships within the National Science Foundation.... The
NSF initiative is designed to develop model partnership initiatives to
improve science and math education with ED partnerships implementing
and scaling up best practices discovered from these NSF models. As a
competitive program, the NSF program is not intended to provide every
state with targeted funds for math and science professional
development. In contrast, the Ed partnerships - if funded over $100
million - would provide funding to every state through formula
grants.... We urge you to improve our nation's K-12 math and science
education by funding the Department of Education's Math and Science
Partnership program as closely as possible to the authorized
level."
Ehlers' bipartisan letter will probably be sent late next week. The
signatories so far are: J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ), Rod Blagovich (D-IL),
Donald Payne (D-NJ), Jim McDermott (D-WA), Mark Green (R- WI), Silvestre
Reyes (D-TX), Jay Inslee (D-WA), Lloyd Doggett (D- TX), John Conyers
(D-MI), Lois Capps (D-CA), John Baldacci (D- ME), Marion Berry (D-AR),
John Spratt (D-SC), Michael McNulty (D- NY), Bob Etheridge (D-NC), Ken
Valvert (R-CA), Jerry Costello (D- IL), David Bonior (D-MI) and J. Randy
Forbes (R-VA).
Ehlers is still seeking additional signatures on his letter. If you
wish to contact your Representative about signing this letter, you may
find House office phone numbers at http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html
or by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121, and email
addresses can be found at http://www.house.gov/writerep/.
Although the timing is not yet certain, House appropriators are
expected to begin drafting their spending bills this month, with the
Senate likely to follow suit in June.
Audrey T. Leath
Media and Government Relations
Division
American Institute of Physics
fyi@aip.org
(301)
209-3094
