[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 84 (Monday, June 8, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6271-S6272]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. KAUFMAN (for himself and Mr. Brown):
  S. 1210. A bill 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; to the 
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
  Mr. KAUFMAN. Mr. President, today I am introducing with Senator 
Brown, the STEM Education Coordination Act of 2009. This bill addresses 
what we call STEM education--science, technology, engineering, and 
mathematics--which is critical for our competitiveness in the years and 
generations to come.
  This bill is nearly identical to the version of H.R. 1709 reported by 
the House Committees on Science and Technology and on Education and 
Labor and which may be approved by the House of Representatives as 
early as today. It is quite a simple proposal. It would require 
coordination of Federal STEM education activities.
  We can all agree that STEM education is crucial to our future. 
Technological innovation accounts for more than half of the growth of 
our economy since the Second World War. The discoveries and innovations 
of our STEM professionals create whole new opportunities, new 
industries, new companies, new products and services, and

[[Page S6272]]

new ways of delivering old products and services efficiently. To build 
a clean energy economy, to stay competitive in a globalizing world, to 
drive the health and science research that will improve our quality of 
life, we need more people trained in these skills. All too often, 
though, we are lagging behind other nations in producing these 
scientists and engineers.
  Our ability to keep our lead in technology, which has defined 
American economic strength for generations, is deteriorating. The need 
for more STEM education and also particularly to reach women and 
underrepresented minorities is well recognized. The Congress has acted 
in recent years to support legislation such as the America COMPETES Act 
that broadens our competitiveness efforts beyond simply STEM education.
  But there is also a concern that we are not using our current STEM 
education resources as efficiently and effectively as we could. As 
noted in the House Science Committee report:

       For the most part, agencies have developed their programs 
     independently rather than sharing ``best practices'' and 
     collaborating across agencies. Each program has also 
     developed its own methods and criteria for evaluation, making 
     a comparison of effectiveness across the programs impossible.

  To get the most out of our efforts, this bill would require 
coordination of Federal STEM education activities. It would direct the 
Office of Science and Technology Policy to establish a committee under 
the National Science and Technology Council that is responsible for 
coordinating Federal science, technology, engineering, and math 
education programs and activities. These include Federal programs of 
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 others. 
This newly formed committee will have three main responsibilities.
  First, the committee will coordinate the Federal STEM education 
activities and programs.
  Second, the committee will develop, implement, and update a 5-year 
STEM education achievement plan, including objectives and metrics so we 
can assess how well we are doing.
  Third, the committee will maintain an inventory of federally 
sponsored STEM education programs and activities, including rates of 
participation by underrepresented minorities.
  So that the Congress can make use of this information to advance our 
STEM education efforts, this bill will require an annual report that 
includes: One, a description of STEM education programs and activities; 
two, the level of funding for the programs and activities for each 
participating Federal agency; three, a description of the progress made 
in carrying out the implementation of the plan; and, four, a 
description of how participating Federal agencies disseminate 
information about available STEM education resources to States and 
practitioners.
  This coordination is among the ideas suggested by then-Senator Obama 
in a bill he offered in the 110th Congress, S. 3047.
  In sum, this bill will do just what its title suggests: coordinate 
our STEM educational activities. We not only have a duty to this Nation 
to make sure Federal dollars are spent as efficiently and effectively 
as possible, but it is also critical to our economy that we succeed in 
fostering a workforce that can out-discover, out-think, out-innovate, 
and out-produce our worldwide competition.
  This legislation will help us reach these goals. In a world 
increasingly dominated by technology, I believe our economy, our 
environment, and our future depend on improving STEM education.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                S. 1210

       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.--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 women, underrepresented minorities, and 
     persons in rural areas 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)).

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