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.
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