Dems Pull America Competes from House Floor; National Lab Day a Success!; Last call for ESEA blueprint letter and clarifying change

Feb 5

Greetings STEM Education Coalition members!

Several items today, a busy week for STEM: 1. Dems Pull Competes Bill: In a surprising turn of events, House consideration of America Competes (HR 5116), the R&D and STEM education bill that generated from the Science and Technology Committee, abruptly ended late Thursday when Democrats pulled the bill following passage of a Republican motion to recommit the bill that included language that would have substantially changed it (and included an anti pornography provision.) Congressional leaders vowed to bring the bill back to the floor next week.

Read The Hill article Anti-porn provision sinks Dem jobs bill

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/97787-anti-porn-provision-sinks-dem-jobs-bill

Read the press release from the Science and Technology Committee and Chairman Gordon’s statement

http://science.house.gov/press/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=2837

Read the press statement from the Science and Technology Committee Ranking Member

http://gop.science.house.gov/

Read EdWeek reporter Erik Robelen’s blog about the House action http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/

Read more about America Competes: http://science.house.gov/press/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=2809

2. National Lab Day was a huge success! Thanks to the organizations who have worked very hard to get their members involved, and remember, National Lab Day is not just a day, its a LONG TERM project. So read more about the events this week and NLD, and join us!!

National Lab Day website www.nationallabday.org (Read the success stories and follow NLD on Twitter)

Read the White House press release on NLD:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/cabinet-and-senior-administration-officials-scheduled-join-national-lab-day-events-

Read the Dept. of Education press advisory on NLD:

http://www2.ed.gov/news/events/advisory.html#051110a

Read the Scientific American article on NLD

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=nld-national-lab-day

National Science Foundation Launches Website in Support of NLD http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=116936&org=NSF&from=news

Read NSTA Executive Director Francis Eberle’s commentary in Education Week titled “Making Science Labs a Priority”

Read articles about National lab Day:

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=30796

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/video/national-lab-day-10440228

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/05/12/national-lab-day-liftoff

http://www.ny1.com/content/news_beats/education/

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/05/12/national-lab-day-dinner-with-a-scientist

Read the blog from OSTP staff on the White House website about the May 6 NLD event in New York City

Read the e-mail from Energy Secretary Stephen Chu encouraging Dept. of Energy scientists to get involved in National Lab Day

Read the U.S. House of Representatives resolution (H.Res.1213) introduced by Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-OH), which recognizes STEM education and supports National Lab Day.

3. ESEA Blueprint Letter: Attached please find the letter (and current signatories) from the Coalition developed by the Legislative TF, addressed to Secretary Arne Duncan, that specifically addresses STEM in the Administration’s blueprint for ESEA http://www.ed.gov/blog/topic/esea-reauthorization/ . Thanks to those organizations who have signed on; we are extending the sign-on time, let us know by May 19 if your group can sign on.

Also, please note: In response to several questions about item #4 in the letter, we made a clarifying change to the language regarding formula vs. competitive grants. This section was clarified to make clear that while our Coalition has always and will continue to support robust competition and merit review, we also need to strongly voice the view that all states should be receiving funds dedicated to STEM education. We consider these issues closely within the legislative task force beforehand and we try very hard to avoid any changes to these letters once they are sent to the full Coalition. Having said that, if anyone has further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact James Brown of ACS at j_brown@acs.org.

Cheers, and have a terrific weekend.

Jodi and James

Jodi Peterson

Co-Chair, STEM Education Coalition

Assistant Executive Director, Legislative and Public Affairs

National Science Teachers Association

1840 Wilson Blvd.

Arlington, VA 22201

(703) 312-9214 (office)

(703) 841-0250 (fax)

jpeterson@nsta.org

www.nsta.org