Gordon’s Competitiveness Bill Moving Through Congress
August 2, 2007, WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon’s legislation designed to improve math and science education and foster energy research to secure U.S. competitiveness is progressing through Congress on its way to become law.
“This will help us keep American jobs on our shores by making sure we have the most skilled workforce in the world,” said Gordon, chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology. “Other countries will always have lower wages, so we must have a workforce with the technical skills that will make it advantageous for companies to keep their businesses here rather than move them offshore. The basis of those skills is solid math and science preparation in grades K-12.”
Gordon was the lead House negotiator on a conference committee comprised of House and Senate members who worked together to reconcile differences between competitiveness bills approved by the House and Senate earlier this year. Sen. Lamar Alexander was a champion of the Senate bill and worked closely with Gordon to produce a final conference report to be considered by both the House and Senate.
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the conference report to Gordon’s bill, H.R. 2272, the 21st Century Competitiveness Act. The Senate is expected to approve the bill this week, and the legislation will then go the president for his signature.
The bill will help to prepare thousands of new teachers by offering scholarships to students who major in math, science or engineering and commit to become teachers upon graduation. The bill will also provide current teachers with content and teaching skills through summer training institutes.
The bill takes steps to ensure U.S. competitiveness by reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign sources of energy. The bill establishes an Advanced Research Projects Agency at the Department of Energy to focus on high-risk, high-reward energy research to produce new energy technologies.
The legislation also expands programs to enhance the undergraduate education of the science and engineering workforce, provides additional federal support for outstanding young researchers and creates a path to double funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and research programs at the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Department of Energy Office of Science.
Gordon’s bill is based on recommendations from the National Academies’ 2005 report, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm.” The report was produced at the request of a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Gordon and Alexander.
The National Academies found that in 1999, 68 percent of U.S. 8th grade students received math instruction from a teacher who lacked a degree or certification in the field. In 2000, 93 percent of students in grades 5-9 received physical science instruction form teachers without a certification in the subject matter.
In high schools, about 30 percent of math students and 60 percent of physical science students face the same fact. The numbers are worse for low-income students, where 70 percent of their math teachers majored in something other than math in college.
The National Academies’ report concluded the United States could stand to lose its competitive edge without immediate action.
“Many of our teachers are put in a difficult position of filling a school’s need for a teacher in a particular subject area, but they may not have extensive knowledge of the content,” said Gordon. “Our efforts today will help them gain the content knowledge and skills they need to teach our students.”
Gordon’s legislation is supported by a wide variety of groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Business Roundtable and the National Education Association.
“This is an example of how the process should work,” said Gordon. “A bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers requested the report from the National Academies, and we have acted on the Academies’ recommendations to produce good legislation that is garnering overwhelming support from Congress, as well as the academic, business, and research communities.”
