Current ANJEE members are asked to vote once for nominees to serve on the ANJEE Board of Trustees and Advisory Council.

To learn more about each nominee, click HERE.

To complete your ballot submission, click HERE.

Completed ballots must be submitted electronically by 4:00 p.m. Tuesday, February 9.
Nominees will be notified of the results on February 11.
Ballot results will be presented to ANJEE members through an ANJEE ALERT message and will be posted on the ANJEE website soon thereafter.
Thank you for your cooperation!

ANNUAL LEADERSHIP RETREAT


Saturday Morning, March 6 through
Sunday Afternoon, March 7, 2010

Pinelands Conference Center
801 Mt. Misery Road
Browns Mills, New Jersey 08015 (Burlington County)

Click HERE for more information.

Environmental Literacy included in Obama's new Education Budget: Historic First

We just logged a major victory for No Child Left Inside, perhaps our most significant.  President Obama’s budget that was released yesterday includes environmental literacy in the U.S. Department of Education budget for the very first time.  We now have the Obama administration officially on our side, and better yet, in their budget.

President Obama and Secretary Duncan have made innovation and student achievement a major platform of the Obama Administration and as a result have included environmental literacy in a new program. The proposed budget includes a new $1.0 billion for Effective Teaching and Learning for a Complete Education program designed to improve instruction to support college- and career readiness standards, in part through the use of technology to deliver high-quality content. The new program includes 3 components:

• Literacy: $450 million, an increase of $36.7 million, to consolidate 7 existing Elementary and Secondary Education Act programs into a new program that would help States and local education authorities improve literacy skills by supporting professional development and improved instructional materials.



• Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM): $300 million, an increase of $119.5 million, or 66 percent, to expand the Federal investment in improved teaching and learning of STEM disciplines, especially in high-need schools and school systems, and prepare the next generation of scientists and engineers.



• A Well-Rounded Education: $265 million, an increase of $38.9 million, or 17 percent, to consolidate 7 current authorities and expand support for the subjects important to a complete curriculum, including: history, the arts, foreign languages, environmental literacy, and economic and financial literacy.

What does it mean?  In the short term, it means that we can expect President Obama’s education bill (Elementary and Secondary Education Act, formerly known as No Child Left Behind) to include language from the No Child Left Inside Act, which will help force the hand of Congress, where we already have 87 House cosponsors and 17 Senate cosponsors.

We still have a great deal of work to do, and we will continue to count on you to take action and stay involved. In the meantime, congratulations to all of you—you made this happen!

While this is a only one step in the process, it is a big one.  Thank YOU!

To become involved with NJ efforts to advance environmental education policies and laws, sign up to receive regular e-mail from from Pat Skelly, NJ EE Advocacy Coordinator, at ee_advocacy@yahoo.com.

A special thanks to all who attended

ANJEE's 25th Annual Conference
A Celebration of Environmental Education
January 28 - 30, 2010
Wyndham Princeton Forrestal Hotel and Conference Center
Plainsboro, NJ.