National Environmental Education Act of 1990: Overview, Implementation, and Issues for Congress

^Pr^ep^ar^{ed f}^o^r^M^e^m^b^ers^an^d^Com^mⁱ^t^t^ees^of^C^ong^r^e^ss

The federal role in environmental education has been an ongoing issue. For nearly two decades,
EPA has been the primary federal agency responsible for providing financial assistance to schools
to support environmental education. The National Environmental Education Act of 1990 (P.L.
101-619) established a program within EPA to award grants for educating elementary and
secondary school students and training teachers in environmental subjects, and to fund other
related activities. The President has proposed to eliminate this program in his annual budget
requests each year since FY2003, and did not include any funding for the program in his FY2009
budget request. In response to strong interest at the state and local level, Congress has continued
to fund the program each year, appropriating $8.9 million for FY2008. Although Congress has
continued to fund the program through the appropriations process, the original funding
authorization in the National Environmental Education Act of 1990 expired at the end of FY1996.
As passed by the House, H.R. 3036 would reauthorize funding for EPA’s environmental education
program in FY2009, require the integration of certain elements into the agency’s teacher training
program, and expand the federal role in environmental education by authorizing a new grant
program within the Department of Education. As introduced, S. 1981 also would create a new
role for the Department of Education in supporting environmental education, but would not
reauthorize funding for EPA’s existing program nor amend any aspects of it. As introduced, H.R.
5902 and H.R. 6316 would address environmental education in the more specific contexts of
environmental justice and climate change, respectively.

Introduc tion ............................................................................................................................... 5
Appropriations........................................................................................................................... 5
Overview and Implementation..................................................................................................6
Office of Environmental Education....................................................................................6
Environmental Education and Training Program................................................................6
Environmental Education Grants........................................................................................7
Environmental Fellowships................................................................................................7
Environmental Education Awards.......................................................................................7
Environmental Education Advisory Council and Federal Task Force on
Environmental Education................................................................................................8
National Environmental Education and Training Foundation............................................8
Issues for Congress and Relevant Legislation...........................................................................8
Author Contact Information..........................................................................................................10

The Environmental Education Act of 1970 (P.L. 91-516) established an Office of Environmental
Education in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to award grants for developing
environmental curricula and training teachers. Congress moved the office to the newly formed
Department of Education in 1979. However, in response to the Reagan Administration’s efforts to
transfer the federal role in many programs to the states, Congress eliminated the Office of ^st
Environmental Education in 1981. Several years later, the 101 Congress enacted the National
Environmental Education Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-619) to renew the federal role in environmental
education and reestablish an office of environmental education within EPA. In the law’s findings, ^st
the 101 Congress stated that existing federal programs to educate the public about environmental
problems and train environmental professionals were inadequate at that time and that increasing
the federal role in this area was therefore necessary.
P.L. 101-619 authorizes EPA to work with educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, the
private sector, tribal governments, and state and local environmental agencies to educate the
public about environmental problems and encourage students to pursue environmental careers.
Environmental education involves learning ecological concepts to understand the relationships
between human behavior and environmental quality, and developing the knowledge and skills to
analyze environmental problems and create solutions.
The goal of EPA’s environmental education program is to increase public knowledge about
environmental issues and provide the public with the skills necessary to make informed decisions
and take responsible actions to protect the environment. The program supports activities to
achieve these goals primarily through the awarding of grants. Since the beginning of the program
in FY1992, EPA has awarded grants for environmental education projects in each of the 50 states,
the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories for educating elementary and secondary school
students, training teachers, purchasing textbooks, developing curricula, and other educational
activities.
This report summarizes major provisions of the National Environmental Education Act of 1990,
discusses appropriations for activities authorized in that statute, examines the implementation of
these activities, and analyzes key issues and relevant legislation.
The original funding authorization for EPA’s environmental education program expired at the end
of FY1996. Congress has continued to fund the program since then through the annual
appropriations process without enacting reauthorizing legislation. Congress has appropriated
approximately $9 million annually in recent years, with the exception of $5.6 million in FY2007.
Congress returned funding to previous levels in FY2008, appropriating $8.9 million. Although
funding for the program has continued, the President has proposed to eliminate its funding in his
annual budget requests each year since FY2003, including his FY2009 budget request.
The President has used the environmental education program’s performance rating by the Office
of Management and Budget (OMB) as the main justification for his recurring proposal to
eliminate the program’s funding. OMB has repeatedly given the program a “Results Not
Demonstrated” rating as part of its annual government-wide assessment of federal programs with

its Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART). OMB asserts that the absence of performance
metrics for grant activities supported by the environmental education program makes it difficult
to determine whether the program is achieving its goal of improving the quality of environmental
education.
Opponents of the President’s proposal to eliminate the program’s funding have noted that there
are long-standing disagreements among educators about how to evaluate the quality of education,
and that the lack of performance metrics for educational activities is not unique to EPA’s
environmental education program. Such critics have countered OMB’s characterization of the
program’s effectiveness by arguing that grant awards have had a national impact with a small
amount of funding relative to EPA’s total budget. The activities supported by these grants also
have generated significant state and local support. In response, Congress has continued the
program’s funding each year.
The National Environmental Education Act authorizes EPA to award grants for developing
environmental curricula and training teachers, support fellowships to encourage the pursuit of
environmental professions, and select individuals for environmental awards. EPA also consults
with the National Environmental Education Advisory Council and the Federal Task Force on
Environmental Education in conducting the above activities and coordinating its efforts with
related federal programs. The act also established a nonprofit foundation to encourage
cooperation between the public and private sectors to support environmental education. Each ¹
activity is discussed below.
Section 4 of the act directed EPA to establish an “office” of environmental education to
implement programs authorized under the act and to coordinate its activities with related federal
programs. EPA originally established an Office of Environmental Education within the Office of
Public Affairs to perform these functions. The agency has since reorganized these functions into
an Environmental Education Division within the Office of Children’s Health Protection and
Environmental Education, part of the Office of the EPA Administrator.
EPA developed the Environmental Education and Training Program to train education
professionals to develop and teach environmental curricula. Section 5 of the act directs EPA to
award an annual grant to a higher educational institution or nonprofit organization to operate the
program under a multiple-year agreement. The act requires EPA to reserve 25% of the annual
funding for its environmental education program to support the Environmental Education and
Training Program. Teachers, administrators, and related staff of educational institutions as well as
staff of state and local environmental agencies, tribal governments, and nonprofit organizations

¹^{For m}^o^re^inf^o^rm^a^{tion, se}^e^E^P^A^’^s^w^e^bsite^a^t^http://w^ww^.e^pa^.g^ov^/^e^nv^iroe^d.

are eligible to participate. The University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point has been implementing ²
this training program, under agreement with EPA, since October 2000.
The Environmental Education Grant Program supports activities that would educate elementary
and secondary school students, train teachers, increase understanding of environmental issues,
and accomplish related goals. Educational institutions, state and local agencies, tribal
governments, and nonprofit organizations are eligible to apply for these grants. Section 6 of the
act requires EPA to reserve 38% of the environmental education program’s annual funding to
support these grants. The act limits a single grant to $250,000, and requires EPA to award 25% of
the grants for amounts of $5,000 or less, to ensure a greater number of grant awards among
recipients. Notably, fulfilling this latter requirement with respect to smaller grants has become
increasingly impractical, as the dollar amount of proposed grants has risen with inflation and
price increases over time since the 1990 enactment of the statute.
The act also requires each grant recipient to provide at least 25% of a project’s costs in matching
funds, but grants EPA the discretion to provide up to full federal funding under certain
circumstances. In practice, EPA reports that many of its grant recipients now provide more than
the minimum 25% in matching funds, underscoring local commitments to funded projects. Since
the first year of the grant program in FY1992, EPA has awarded nearly $42 million in grants for
more than 3,200 environmental education projects in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and ³
U.S. territories.
With authority provided in Section 7 of the act, EPA administers the National Network for
Environmental Management Studies to encourage post-secondary students to pursue
environmental careers. Students work with an environmental professional at EPA on a specific
project or conduct university research under EPA’s direction. In recent years, EPA has awarded
approximately 40 fellowships annually to students at more than 400 participating universities.
EPA administers the Presidential Environmental Youth Awards Program to recognize outstanding
projects that promote local environmental awareness. Elementary and secondary students are
eligible to compete annually to receive these awards from the EPA regional offices. The award
recipients receive national recognition from the President or Vice President of the United States
and the EPA Administrator. Section 8 of the act also created four national awards to recognize
outstanding contributions to environmental education and training. EPA announced the first
recipients in 1993. The awards commemorate Theodore Roosevelt for teaching, Henry David
Thoreau for literature, Rachel Carson for communications media, and Gifford Pinchot for natural
resources management.

²^{For m}^o^re^inf^o^rm^a^{tion, se}^e^the^uⁿⁱ^v^e^rs^it^y^’^s^w^e^bsite^a^t^http://w^ww^.e^e^t^a^p^.org^.
³^{For m}^o^re^inf^o^rm^a^{tion, se}^e^E^P^A^’^s^w^e^bsite^a^t^http://w^ww^.e^pa^.g^ov^/^e^nv^iroe^d/^g^r^aⁿ^ts/inde^x^.^htm^l^.

EPA established a National Environmental Education Advisory Council and a Federal Task Force
on Environmental Education under Section 9 of the act. The council consists of members
representing public and private expertise in environmental education and training. The council
consults with EPA and reports to Congress periodically on the quality of environmental
education, the implementation of the act, and its recommendations to improve environmental ⁴
education and training. The council’s most recent report was released in 2005. The task force
coordinates EPA’s environmental education and training activities with related federal programs.
The National Environmental Education and Training Foundation encourages cooperation between ⁵
the public and private sectors to support environmental education and training. Section 10 of the
act established the foundation as a private, nonprofit organization with a board of 13 directors
responsible for ensuring that its activities adhere to EPA’s policies. The foundation operates
several priority programs, including those that focus on public health and the environment,
“green” business, environmental literacy of secondary school students, and weather and the
environment.
The foundation also awards competitive challenge grants to encourage innovative activities in
environmental education and presents National Environmental Education Achievement Awards to
honor outstanding and scientifically accurate environmental education programs. Additionally,
the foundation supports annual research projects which examine the public’s perception,
awareness, and action regarding the environment, pollution control regulations, and personal
responsibility. The act requires EPA to reserve 10% of the environmental education program’s
annual funding to award a noncompetitive grant to help support the foundation’s activities.
Although Members of Congress have broadly supported the role of the federal government in
environmental education on a bipartisan basis, there has been continuing controversy over its role
in the classroom. There appears to be general consensus that educating students in the natural and
social sciences to examine the potential impacts of human behavior on the environment is
appropriate for instruction. However, some critics argue that certain textbooks and curricula
misinform students by advocating specific measures to address environmental problems, or by
presenting unbalanced or scientifically inaccurate data.
In response, EPA has issued guidelines specifying that the environmental education grants it
awards cannot be used for projects that would recommend a specific course of action or advocate
a particular viewpoint, and that activities must be based on “objective and scientifically sound
information” to be eligible for funding. However, the National Environmental Education Act does

⁴^{For t}^h^e^f^u^{ll te}^x^t^of^the^c^o^unc^il’s²⁰⁰^{5 re}^p^o^rt^on^the^qua^lity^of^eⁿ^vⁱ^ronm^eⁿ^ta^{l e}^duc^a^tio^{n, se}^e^E^P^A^’^{s w}^e^bsite^a^t
^http:^//w^w^w^.e^pa^.g^ov^/^e^nv^ir^oe^d/^pdf^/r^e^por^tt^oc^ong^r^e^s^s²⁰^05.^pdf^.
⁵^For^m^o^r^e^inf^o^r^m^a^{tion, s}^e^e^the^f^ounda^tⁱ^oⁿ^’^s^w^e^bs^ite^a^t^http:/^/w^w^w^.ⁿ^e^e^f^us^a^.^or^g^/ⁱⁿ^de^x^.^htm^.

not include requirements to insure that activities funded by EPA adhere to these guidelines.
Whether to include such requirements in federal statute has been an issue.
Interest in the federal government’s role in environmental education has become broader in
response to public desire for better understanding of complex environmental issues affecting
human health, sustainability of natural resources, biological diversity, and other societal
objectives. The complexity of such issues, and the ability of schools to address them, have
motivated some educators to question whether EPA or other federal agencies should play a more
prominent role in environmental education.
In the 110^th Congress, at least two bills would broadly address the federal role in environmental
education. As introduced on August 2, 2007, the No Child Left Inside Act of 2007 (S. 1981)
would expand the federal role in environmental education by creating an Office of Environmental
Education within the Department of Education to administer new grant programs intended to
supplement EPA’s existing program. As passed by the House on September 18, 2008, the No
Child Left Inside Act of 2008 (H.R. 3036) would directly amend the National Environmental
Education Act of 1990 for a similar purpose of authorizing a new grant program within the
Department of Education to supplement EPA’s existing efforts. This new grant program would
differ from EPA’s current program by focusing more on the outcome of environmental education
in terms of achieving academic standards and demonstrating environmental literacy. Three
amendments to the bill were agreed to in House floor debate that would expand the eligibility of
recipients of the new grants to include municipalities, to make instruction in environmental
justice issues an eligible use of grant funds, and to specify the eligibility of activities that involve
partnering with state and local park and recreation departments.
In addition to creating a new role for the Department of Education, H.R. 3036 would further
amend the National Environmental Education Act of 1990 to reauthorize funding for EPA’s
existing program in FY2009 and to require the integration of certain activities into EPA’s teacher
training program, such as “scientifically valid” research (as defined in the bill), technology-based
teaching, interdisciplinary instruction, and outdoor learning. Although these activities would
become required elements, current law does not necessarily preclude their integration under the
existing program.
H.R. 3036 also would include new “accountability” requirements for EPA’s existing program, the
proposed Department of Education program, and existing programs of the National
Environmental Education and Training Foundation. The bill would establish several indicators of
program quality to evaluate their respective outcomes. Some of these indicators are aligned with
commonly held goals of environmental education, such as enhancing the understanding of the
natural and built environment and improving the understanding of how human and natural
systems interact. Other indicators have a more academic emphasis, such as the impact of
environmental education on achievement in related core subjects including mathematics and
science.
Two other bills in the 110^th Congress would address environmental education within the more
specific contexts of environmental justice and climate change. As introduced on April 24, 2008,
the Getting Youth Re-invested in Environmental Education Now Act (H.R. 5902) would authorize
the Secretary of Education to award grants to states and local educational agencies to support the
development of environmental justice curricula and to provide career development opportunities
to students. These grants would be made available for such efforts aimed at secondary school
students in urban communities that may be disproportionately affected by environmental issues.

As introduced on June 19, 2008, the Climate Market, Auction, Trust, and Trade Emissions
Reduction System Act of 2008 (H.R. 6316) would establish a dedicated Citizen Protection Trust
Fund to support a variety of environmental and social purposes intended to offset the effects of
climate change. The trust fund would be supported with revenues associated with a cap and trade
system designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A fixed percentage (0.4%) of revenues to
the fund would be dedicated to environmental education. These revenues would be divided
equally among EPA, the Department of Education, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. The bill does not specify how these funds would be used to support
environmental education, presumably leaving that decision to the discretion of the agencies
within their existing authorities.
^D^a^vⁱ^{d M. Bearden}
^Sp^{ecialist i}ⁿ^En^vⁱ^r^oⁿ^m^eⁿ^{tal P}^o^lic^y
^dbearden^@^crs^.^l^o^c.g^o^v^,^7-²³⁹⁰