I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2702 
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 regarding 
improving environmental literacy to better prepare students for postsec-
ondary education and careers, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 16, 2013 
Mr. SARBANES (for himself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Ms. BONAMICI, Mrs. CAPPS, 
Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. FARR, Mr. GRI-
JALVA, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. HOLT, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. MCCOL-
LUM, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MCNERNEY, Ms. PINGREE of Maine, Mr. 
POLIS, and Mr. THOMPSON of California) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 
of 1965 regarding improving environmental literacy to 
better prepare students for postsecondary education and 
careers, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘No Child Left Inside Act of 2013’’. 
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(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings. 
Sec. 3. References. 
Sec. 4. Authorization of appropriations. 
TITLE I—ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY 
Sec. 101. Environmental literacy. 
TITLE II—PROMOTING ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY IN 
EDUCATION PROGRAMS 
Sec. 201. Amendments to title II, part B. 
Sec. 202. Amendments to title IV, part B. 
TITLE III—NATIONAL ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE ENVIRONMENTAL 
LITERACY 
Sec. 301. Availability of other environmental literacy information. 
Sec. 302. Federal interagency coordination on environmental literacy. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds that: 
(1) Children and young adults are increasingly 
disconnected from the natural world around them, 
spending less time outside playing, exploring, and 
learning. 
(2) Play and learning in nature is important to 
the intellectual, social, and physical development of 
youth. 
(3) Environmental education, as part of the for-
mal prekindergarten through grade 12 school cur-
riculum, provides opportunities for youth to get out-
side and learn about the natural world, has positive 
impacts on student achievement in all subjects and 
especially in science, reading, mathematics, and so-
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cial studies, and improves critical thinking skills, en-
thusiasm for learning, stewardship, and healthy life-
styles. 
(4) By many indicators, the United States is 
falling behind other nations in preparing students 
with the educational tools necessary to compete for 
the growing opportunities in the sciences, including 
environmental, natural resource, and energy-related 
careers. 
(5) Reports by boards of the National Science 
Foundation, the National Environmental Education 
Advisory Council, and the National Council for 
Science and the Environment, among others, have 
called for a systemic approach to environmental edu-
cation in the formal education system to improve the 
environmental literacy of youth and better prepare 
students for college and the 21st century workforce. 
(6) Forty-eight States have developed, or are in 
the process of developing, environmental literacy 
plans to effectively integrate environmental edu-
cation into the prekindergarten through grade 12 
curriculum and ensure that students graduate from 
high school environmentally literate. At the same 
time, most states are aligning curricula with the 
Common Core State Standards. 
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(7) Support from the Department of Education 
is needed to help State and local educational agen-
cies, and the partners of such agencies, implement 
environmental literacy plans and advance State cur-
riculum frameworks for environmental and natural 
resource education that meets new State academic 
content and student achievement standards and 
aligns with the Next Generation Science Framework. 
(8) Federal science and natural resource agen-
cies have important resources, including Federal 
lands and laboratories, content experts, data, and 
programs that can inform and support State and 
local environmental literacy policies and program-
ming. 
SEC. 3. REFERENCES. 
Except as otherwise specifically provided, whenever in 
this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms 
of an amendment to, or a repeal of, a section or other 
provision, the reference shall be considered to be made to 
a section or other provision of the Elementary and Sec-
ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.). 
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
(a) AUTHORIZATION.—There are authorized to be ap-
propriated to carry out subpart 22 of the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act of 1965, such sums as may be 
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necessary for fiscal year 2014 and each of the 4 suc-
ceeding fiscal years. 
(b) DISTRIBUTION.—With respect to any amount ap-
propriated under subsection (a) for a fiscal year— 
(1) not less than 70 percent of such amount 
shall be used to carry out section 5622 of the Ele-
mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 for 
such fiscal year; and 
(2) not more than 30 percent of such amount 
shall be used to carry out section 5623 of such Act 
for such fiscal year. 
TITLE I—ENVIRONMENTAL 
LITERACY 
SEC. 101. ENVIRONMENTAL LITERACY. 
Part D of title V (20 U.S.C. 7201 et seq.) is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘Subpart 22—Environmental Literacy 
‘‘SEC. 5621. DEFINITIONS. 
‘‘In this subpart: 
‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE PARTNERSHIP.—The term ‘eligi-
ble partnership’ means a partnership that includes a 
local educational agency and not less than 1 of the 
following partners: 
‘‘(A) A teacher preparation program at an 
institution of higher education. 
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‘‘(B) The environmental or life sciences de-
partment of an institution of higher education. 
‘‘(C) Another local educational agency, a 
public charter school, a public elementary 
school or secondary school, or a consortium of 
such schools. 
‘‘(D) A Federal, State, regional, or local 
environmental or natural resource management 
agency, or parks and recreation department, 
that has demonstrated effectiveness, expertise, 
and experience in the field of environmental lit-
eracy, including the professional development of 
teachers. 
‘‘(E) A nonprofit organization that has 
demonstrated effectiveness, expertise, and expe-
rience in the field of environmental literacy, in-
cluding the professional development of teach-
ers. 
‘‘(2) ENVIRONMENTAL
LITERACY.—The term 
‘environmental literacy’ means a fundamental under-
standing of ecological principles, the systems of the 
natural world, and the relationships and interactions 
between natural and man-made environments. 
‘‘(3) ENVIRONMENTAL
LITERACY
PLAN.—The 
term ‘environmental literacy plan’ means a plan de-
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