At the federal level, a No Child Left Inside Coalition and other education advocates are supporting an effort that would include environmental education in the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. This “No Child Left Inside” legislation makes new funding available for the development of rigorous standards, teacher training, and environmental literacy programs. When the legislation is signed into law, only States that have environmental literacy plans (preK-12) will be eligible for federal funding associated with the legislation. Currently, the bill suggests an appropriation of $100 million to support the State Environmental Literacy Plans.  You can learn more about the No Child Left Inside Act and its various provisions and requirements here:  http://www.cbf.org/Page.aspx?pid=948.

Wisconsin is just getting started with developing an environmental literacy plan that will be compliant with the pending No Child Left Inside Coalition. Currently, the Wisconsin NCLI coalition is made up of representatives from: the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the Wisconsin Center for Environmental Education, The Wisconsin Environmental Education Foundation, the Wisconsin Environmental Education Board, the Wisconsin Association for Environmental Education,  Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and the Environmental Education and Training Partnership. The Coalition is in the process of identifying teachers and school administrators to serve on the Coalition. Their next meeting is planned for late September.
 
Soon, Superintendent Evers will ask the Coalition to develop an Environmental Literacy Plan for Wisconsin. In the meantime, they have had two preliminary meetings.  The primary focus of the first was gaining consensus that developing an environmental literacy plan for Wisconsin is a worthwhile effort that we are all willing to be involved in (regardless of whether the national legislation is successful).  The second meeting consisted of a general brainstorm of the kinds of things Wisconsin would want in our plan, identified some required components we already have in place, and emphasized the need for teacher and school administrator participation.

The bills are expected to be moved into the House and Senate for a vote this fall. The coalition is hopeful that a plan in place by early next year.

If you have questions related to Wisconsin's No Child Left Inside Coalition contact Jesse Haney, 715.346.3604 or Jesse.Haney@uwsp.edu (coordinator, Wisconsin No Child Left Inside Coalition)