AASA Annual Conference, Phoenix, AZFebruary 12, 2016

Environmental Education in ESSA

Kathy McGlauflin, Project Learning Tree

Dr. Kevin Maxwell, CEO, Prince George’s County Public Schools

Don Baugh, Upstream Alliance

Sarah Bodor, North American Association for Environmental Education

Dr. David Cox, Allegheny County Public Schools

What We are gathered here today to…

…discuss opportunities for school systems and partners to advance environmental education throughthe Every Student Succeeds Act

What

“to learn about and investigate their environment, and to make intelligent, informed decisions about how they can take care of it”

~NAAEE

What“ESSA is a tremendous victory for advocates of environmental education…numerous studies show the positive effect of experiential outdoor learning on student development and academic achievement.”

~Congressman John Sarbanes

What

Environmental education has been singled out for the first time in history in the K-12 authorization bill…

What Every Student Succeeds Act

Title IV: Part A “Student Support and Academic

Enrichment Grants”

Title IV: Part B “21st

Century Community Learning Centers”

What Title IV-Part A-$1.6B Authorized, $500M in President’s Budget

• “Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants”, new block grant, provides students with a “well-rounded” education including environmental education, history, civics, and STEM, among others

• States submit plan; Formula to states; Formula to LEAs

• LEAs must conduct needs assessment prior to applying for funds

What Title IV-Part A-$1.6B Authorized, $500M in President’s Budget

• LEAs receiving at least $30K, 20% of Part A needs to be for at least one of the “well rounded” disciplines

• LEAs may partner with LEAs, institutions of higher education, non-profit organizations, community-based organizations and businesses in developing these programs.

WhenTitle IV-Part A-$1.6B Authorized, $500M in President’s Budget

Full implementation likely for 2017-2018 school year; regulations expected July or October, 2016

What Title IV-Part B-$1B Authorized, $1B in President’s Budget

• “21st Century Community Learning Centers” focusing on out-of-school and afterschool programs

• This is an existing grant program. A new eligible activities is environmental education. STEM is also a priority

• Targeting Title 1 schools and programs

What Title IV-Part B-$1B Authorized, $1B in President’s Budget

• Formula to states; Competitive grants to localities. 3-5 year grant periods. Funding level examples for FY2015: VA $18M, MD $15M and CA $132M

• Who can apply: local school systems, community-based organizations, private and public entities and a consortium of agencies

• States will administer, monitor and evaluate approved programs

WhenTitle IV-Part B-$1B Authorized, $1B in President’s Budget

We assume changes made to Part B would apply to grant competitions only after October 1, 2016

How

What are other school systems doing?

Prince George’s County Public Schools, MD

How

• State Environmental Literacy Plan• School System Goal—Graduating

Environmentally Literate Students• Partnerships Created with Non-Profits,

Community Organizations, Agencies• Advisory Panel: Monthly Breakfast Meetings

PGCPS Process

Environmental Literacy Across the Curriculum

Environmental Literacy Themes

• Kindergarten: Growing up Green• 1st Grade: Forest Friends• 2nd – 3rd Grade: Future Planning• 4th Grade: Sunfish & Students• 5th Grade: Wild in the Woods

How

Active Learners in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

Authentic Learning in the OutdoorsHow

How

How can North American Association for Environmental

Education help?

How

• Provide a research base to support use of environmental education to achieve student and academic outcomes

• Provide stakeholder input and support for prioritizing environmental education

North American Association for Environmental Education offers…

How North American Association for Environmental Education offers…

• Connect schools and school systems to on-the-ground partners, programs, and resources to support integration of environmental education into classroom instruction

• Disseminate best practices and models for integrated preK-12 environmental education

How can Project Learning Tree help?

How

Project Learning Tree offers…

• Online resources www.plt.org

How

• Curriculum guides aligned to national and state standards

• Professional development for educators

How How can Upstream Alliance help?

How Upstream Alliance

Leadership Development for EE • Build partnerships for ESSA• Model Programs• Formal and non formal• Superintendent’s EE Collaborative?

Opportunities for Environmental Education in ESSAA. New funding can benefit students to prepare

them for 21st centuryB. LEAs have unprecedented opportunity (and

challenges), through new funding and more authorityC. NAAEE and PLT partnerships exist in all states

to assist LEAsD. Upstream Alliance to offer Leadership

Development in support of ESSAContacts:

Kevin Maxwell, CEO, PGCPS ceo@pgcps.orgDon Baugh, Upstream Alliance don@upstreamalliance.org

Kathy McGlauflin, PLT kmcglauflin@plt.orgSarah Bodor, NAAEE sarah@naaee.org

Summary

Appendix:

The details of ESSA and EE

Congress and the White House stepped up incentives (authorizing more grant funding) to encourage states and local state governments to provide students with a well-rounded education, including environmental education, history, civics, and STEM, among others.

Environmental education, for the first time, has been singled out in an Elementary and Secondary Act Authorization bill, a victory for environmental education advocates who fought hard to make this a reality.

The two programs below specifically target well-rounded education under Title IV, 21st Century Schools, which provides opportunities for K-12 in-school education and out-of-school programs.

EE in ESSA Overview

Title IV, 21st Century SchoolsPart A “Student Support and Academic Enrichment Program”

Facts about the Law

Congress eliminated existing individual grant programs and replaced them with a block grant called “The Student Support and Academic Enrichment Program”, with a $1.6 billion annual authorization.

The money will be distributed by the Department of Education through a formula to the states.

States, in turn, distribute the money to Local Education Agencies (LEAs) according to the Title I Part A formula.

Each state must submit a plan to the Department of Education for approval, with 95% of the funds to be distributed to the LEAs based on the formula (states can use the remaining 5% for administrative costs).

Most significantly, each locality that gets more than $30,000 will be required to spend at least 20% of the funds on at least one of the activities listed as promoting well-rounded education, including environmental education and STEM subjects (encouraging hands-on and field-based learning.)

LEAs may partner with other LEAs, institutions of higher education, non-profit organizations, community-based organizations and businesses in developing these programs.

An LEA must conduct a needs assessment prior to applying for the funds, including how it intends to provide well-rounded education opportunities for all of its students. The environmental community can have a real impact by showcasing its model environmental education programs both on the state and local level.

Title IV, 21st Century SchoolsPart A “Student Support and Academic Enrichment Program”

What we don’t know but what we surmise about the implementation

Dept. of Education regulations/guidance

• This is a new block grant program for which Congress provided requirements in the underlying law. We don’t yet know how much additional guidance will be provided by the Administration, but we should know soon because implementation of the “Every Child Succeeds Act” is on a fast track, and most new grant program requirements must be issued no later than the end of the calendar year on October 1, 2016.

• The Dept. of Education says the new requirements for non-competitive (formula) grant programs must be issued by July 1, 2016. New requirements for competitive program changes must be issued by October 1, 2016. This new block grant program falls within the non-competitive category, but it is subject to new appropriations, and regulations need to be produced, so it is unclear whether July 1, 2016, deadline is applicable here.

Funding

• The President’s FY 2017 budget includes $500 million for this block grant program. The House and Senate appropriators will have the final say on the amount money for this program and should produce a bill in fall or winter of this year.

• Funding will start flowing to states sometime after October of this year, which starts FY ’17.

Title IV, 21st Century SchoolsPart B “21st Century Community Learning Centers”

Facts about the Law

• Part B: The 21st Century Community Learning Centers is an existing grant program offering students a broad array of enrichment activities that complements the regular academic program, focusing on out-of-school activities and afterschool programs.

• There have been some changes to the law. Significantly, one of the specified eligible activities is now environmental education. STEM is also a listed as an important priority.

• Activities under this program target students and families of students who attend schools eligible for Title 1 school-wide programs or schools that serve a high percentage of students from low-income families.

• Money will continue to be distributed to the states based on a formula (Title I, Part A). Examples of funding levels for FY2015 include Virginia, $18 million, Maryland, $15 million, and California, $132 million.

• States will continue to run a competitive grant process for local entities.• States are required to administer, monitor and evaluate approved programs.• As in the past, local school systems are eligible to apply to the state for money, as are

community-based organizations, private and public entities and a consortium of agencies. The grant period runs between three and five years.

Title IV, 21st Century SchoolsPart B “21st Century Community Learning Centers”

What we don’t know but what we surmise about the implementation

Department of Education Regulatory guidance/regulations:• Since it’s a pre-existing program, there probably won’t be a lot of Administration

guidance, just enough changes to conform to the new law. • In the past, the timing of the state competitive grant process for the local entities has

varied from state to state. Given that there are ongoing and rolling grant competitions around the country, the question is at what point do the grant competitions have to take into account the changes in the new law. One would assume that changes made to this particular program would apply to grant competitions starting FY 2017.

Funding• The new authorized level of funding is $1 billion for FY 2017, with small increases the

following years.• The President’s FY 2017 budget includes $1 billion in funding. The House and Senate

appropriators will have the final say on the amount money for this program and should produce a bill in fall or winter of this year.

• Funding will start flowing in this revised grant program, starting FY 2017.

Next Steps

• In anticipation of this new emphasis on environmental education, the No Child Left Inside Coalition has been working with states since 2008 to develop environmental education plans, identifying the necessary steps to ensure students are environmentally literate when they graduate from high school. These plans will help ensure that states and localities are working in a coordinated way. In the states that have them, these plans will help set the stage and could give environmental education a leg up, as states and localities implement the law.

• It’s important to get in on the ground floor as states do an assessment of what’s required to satisfy the requirements in Part A above for providing a well-rounded education. We want to make sure that states are aware of the importance of environmental education, and we want to identify model programs. States and localities that have developed environmental education plans will certainly have a leg up.