[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1709 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1709


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 9, 2009

    Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 
                      Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 AN ACT


 
  To establish a committee under the National Science and Technology 
  Council with the responsibility to coordinate science, technology, 
 engineering, and mathematics education activities and programs of all 
               Federal agencies, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``STEM Education Coordination Act of 
2009''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITION.

    In this Act, the term ``STEM'' means science, technology, 
engineering, and mathematics.

SEC. 3. COORDINATION OF FEDERAL STEM EDUCATION.

    (a) Establishment.--The Director of the Office of Science and 
Technology Policy shall establish a committee under the National 
Science and Technology Council with the responsibility to coordinate 
Federal programs and activities in support of STEM education, including 
at the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the 
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Education, and all other 
Federal agencies that have programs and activities in support of STEM 
education.
    (b) Responsibilities of the Committee.--The committee established 
under subsection (a) shall--
            (1) coordinate the STEM education activities and programs 
        of the Federal agencies;
            (2) develop, implement through the participating agencies, 
        and update once every 5 years a 5-year STEM education strategic 
        plan, which shall--
                    (A) specify and prioritize annual and long-term 
                objectives;
                    (B) specify the common metrics that will be used to 
                assess progress toward achieving the objectives;
                    (C) describe the approaches that will be taken by 
                each participating agency to assess the effectiveness 
                of its STEM education programs and activities; and
                    (D) with respect to subparagraph (A), describe the 
                role of each agency in supporting programs and 
                activities designed to achieve the objectives; and
            (3) establish, periodically update, and maintain an 
        inventory of federally sponsored STEM education programs and 
        activities, including documentation of assessments of the 
        effectiveness of such programs and activities and rates of 
        participation by underrepresented minorities in such programs 
        and activities.
    (c) Responsibilities of OSTP.--The Director of the Office of 
Science and Technology Policy shall encourage and monitor the efforts 
of the participating agencies to ensure that the strategic plan under 
subsection (b)(2) is developed and executed effectively and that the 
objectives of the strategic plan are met.
    (d) Report.--The Director of the Office of Science and Technology 
Policy shall transmit a report annually to Congress at the time of the 
President's budget request describing the plan required under 
subsection (b)(2). The annual report shall include--
            (1) a description of the STEM education programs and 
        activities for the previous and current fiscal years, and the 
        proposed programs and activities under the President's budget 
        request, of each participating Federal agency;
            (2) the levels of funding for each participating Federal 
        agency for the programs and activities described under 
        paragraph (1) for the previous fiscal year and under the 
        President's budget request;
            (3) except for the initial annual report, a description of 
        the progress made in carrying out the implementation plan, 
        including a description of the outcome of any program 
        assessments completed in the previous year, and any changes 
        made to that plan since the previous annual report; and
            (4) a description of how the participating Federal agencies 
        will disseminate information about federally supported 
        resources for STEM education practitioners, including teacher 
        professional development programs, to States and to STEM 
        education practitioners, including to teachers and 
        administrators in schools that meet the criteria described in 
        subsection (c)(1) (A) and (B) of section 3175 of the Department 
        of Energy Science Education Enhancement Act (42 U.S.C. 
        7381j(c)(1) (A) and (B)).

            Passed the House of Representatives June 8, 2009.

            Attest:

                                            LORRAINE C. MILLER,

                                                                 Clerk.