Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 100 - National Science Education Act

STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY

(House)

(Rep. Ehlers (R) Michigan and 44 cosponsors)

The Administration strongly supports the goals of H.R. 100 to make improvements in math and science education. The Administration recognizes and supports improvements made to H.R. 100 during subcommittee markup. In particular, the master teachers program is now consistent with the emphasis of the National Science Foundation (NSF) on training and development models.

Although the NSF's current statutory authority is broad enough to encompass the authorities in H.R. 100, the Administration supports House passage of H.R. 100 and will seek further improvements to address the following concerns as the legislation continues through the legislative process. In some instances, H.R. 100 is excessively prescriptive and would limit NSF's flexibility as it strives to achieve the legislation's objectives. If these programs were to be initiated under current statutory authority, NSF could modify the programs as circumstances change. In addition, the Administration does not believe that a statutory requirement for an annual conference on science, math, engineering, and technology education is necessary and, therefore, recommends deletion of section 6 of the bill.