Pro-science legislation proposed by Obama & Honda

I was just notified by email about new legislation proposed by Obama and Honda to revamp and improve public science education. Here are some details.

Honda’s and Obama’s bill would:

• Reorganize the President’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). OSTP has a STEM subcommittee that has remained largely dormant over the past few years. The bill would raise that subcommittee to a committee level, giving it a mandate to work proactively at designing coherent STEM strategies.
• Create an Office of STEM at the U.S. Department of Education at the assistant-secretary level. This office will coordinate STEM education initiatives among all federal agencies and have a seat at the OSTP STEM Committee.
• Institute a voluntary Consortium on STEM education. The Consortium would be integrated by no less than five states representing at least five of the nation’s nine geographical regions. Its mission is to develop common content standards for K-12 STEM education, engineered at the state and local levels.
• Create the National STEM Education Research Repository. This would be a clearing house for educators to research the latest innovations in STEM. This will break the silos that keep creative programs from being replicated.

From the NSTA's email:

Legislative Update: Rep. Honda and Sen. Obama Introduce eSTEM Bill

On May 21 NSTA Executive Director Gerry Wheeler joined Representatives Vernon Ehlers (R-MI), Rush Holt (D-NJ), and Mike Honda (D-CA) on the steps of Cannon House Office Building for a press conference on a bill introduced by Rep. Honda and Senator Barack Obama titled the Enhancing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Act of 2008.

The legislation, based on the National Science Board recent Action Plan, calls on Congress to reorganize the President’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), create an Office of STEM at the U.S. Department of Education, institute a voluntary state Consortium on STEM education, and create a National STEM Education Research Repository.

Learn more about the legislation:

• Summary from Rep. Honda’s office (PDF)
• Press release
• NSTA’s letter in support of the legislation (PDF)
• Photos from the press conference

This legislation, along with proposed uses of technology to open up government and the move to create a Chief Technology Officer cabinet-level position, separate Obama from McCain in so many ways. The GOP is the party of tradition, while the Democrats represent change and progress.