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NSTA Legislative Alert



****NSTA Legislative Alert****
****March 9, 1999****

Debate on Ed-Flex Moves to House Floor Tomorrow

Rep. Holt to Offer Amendment During House Debate

The Education Flexibility Partnership Act of 1999 (ED-Flex) was marked up
and voted out of the House Education and Workforce Committee on March 3.
As
we reported last week, Rep. Holt introduced his amendment which would
require that school districts seeking to waive Part B of Title II (the
Eisenhower state grants) must first document how the professional
development needs of science and math teachers in their district or school
will be met.

Later, after much discussion in the Education committee about the
Eisenhower
program, and the importance of maintaining a longstanding federal
priority
on science and math achievement, Rep. Holt withdrew his amendment with the
understanding that a compromise would be worked out before the bill
reached
the House floor.

No compromise was reached with the majority party and Rep. Holt intends to
introduce his amendment again on the floor of the House of Representatives
when H.R. 800, the Education Flexibility Partnership Act, comes up for
debate, starting on Wednesday morning at 10 a.m.

It is very important that all subscribers of this list and friends of
science education call their Representative and ask him or her to support
Rep. Rush Holt*s amendment to H.R. 800.

THIS IS CRITICAL. PLEASE CALL YOUR CONGRESSMAN TODAY. Ask your colleagues
to
call. Without Congressional support from both Republicans and Democrats
for
Rep. Holt*s amendment, the Eisenhower program will be subject to waivers
under Ed-Flex with no accountability as to how the school district will
address the professional development needs of science and math teachers.
We
especially need support for this amendment among Republicans.

If you called a member of the Education Committee last week, we thank you
for your calls, and ask that you call again.

If you are not sure about who your U.S. Representative is, please visit
this
website for that information: http://www.congress.org.

For your calls, dial 202-225-3121 and ask to be connected with your
Representative.

Below is the language that was filed by Rep. Holt along with committee
report on H.R. 800. NSTA plans to send a letter to all members of Congress
to support Rep. Holt*s amendment, but your phone call to your elected
representative is much more important and will carry far greater weight.
Please call today!


Additional Views of
Representative Rush Holt of New Jersey
H.R. 800 - *The Education Flexibility Partnership Act*


I support the overall goals of the Education Flexibility Partnership Act *
allowing local school districts flexibility to use money where they need
it
most, in return for a greater level of accountability.

I am concerned, however, that H.R. 800 as reported by the Education and
the
Workforce Committee, may unintentionally undermine the emphasis on math
and
science teacher training in the Eisenhower Professional Development
program.

Through the Eisenhower Professional Development program, previous
Congresses
have ensured, both through law and through allocation of money, that math
and science teacher training should be a priority. All students need a
solid
grounding in these subjects to be productive in an increasingly
technological world. By the time they finish high school, American
students
have fallen far behind their international peers in these important
subjects. We need to give them a better competitive edge in these subjects
if they are going to succeed in the global economy. Clearly, Congress
placed
a priority on math and science professional development in allocation of
these funds because math and science are two areas where teachers have
traditionally needed the most help.

The Eisenhower Professional Development Program is the main federal
program
that helps teachers become better trained in math and science. Because of
the way that the math and science priority is expressed in Title II, math
and science professional development could stand to lose significantly
through implementation of Ed Flex as it is currently written. While I
don*t
believe this is an intended change, the language of the bill allows local
schools to waive the math-science priority in professional development
with
very little oversight of how these important needs will be met.

I believe that Local Education Agencies who are applying for a waiver of
the
math-science priority under the Eisenhower Act should be required to
explain
in their application how the professional development needs of their
teachers in these vital subject areas will be, or already are being, met.
This change will preserve the importance of math science professional
development while still allowing LEA*s to waive the math-science priority
if
they need help in other areas. I believe that this is a simple change, in
keeping with the bill, and maintains a needed focus on math and science
education which might be lost under the Education Flexibility Partnership
Act as it stands now. I am hopeful that this issue can be addressed as
H.R.
800 moves through the legislative process.






Jodi Peterson
Editor, NSTA Reports!
Director, Legislative Affairs