States and school districts around the Bay region have made some progress toward meeting their goals for teaching students about the environment, but much work remains, according to data recently released by EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program.
The news comes as the Trump administration proposes to eliminate the environmental education grant program, the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) program.
Chesapeake B-WET is administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Chesapeake Bay Office, which the administration also would defund.
According to the Bay Program, the number of school districts that say they are “well prepared” to adopt a comprehensive environmental education program increased from 17 percent to 19 percent between 2022 and 2024. The percentage rebounded nearly to the pre-Covid level of 20 percent.
The seven Bay jurisdictions committed in the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement to ensuring their students can graduate high school with the knowledge and skills to be good stewards of their local watershed by the end of this year.
Chesapeake B-WET is the principal source of federal funds to advance that goal. It helps school districts develop curriculum and instruction to get students outside for hands-on learning and to investigate real-world phenomena, gather data, draw conclusions, and devise solutions to environmental challenges in their communities.
Chesapeake Bay Foundation Vice President for Environmental Education Tom Ackerman released the following statement:
“With day-to-day experience increasingly dominated by screen time, students need hands-on, real-world learning. The federal government must invest more in environmental education, not eliminate it.
“State education agencies and school districts deserve a lot of credit for recent progress. The coordination and leadership from NOAA and other federal partners have been an essential catalyst and support.
“While environmental education has rebounded since the pandemic, we have also seen massive teacher turnover. Now more than ever, we need B-WET to help train new teachers to deliver high-quality, locally relevant educational experiences that inspire students to be good stewards of the Bay and its rivers and streams.
“We urge Congress to reject the Trump administration’s misplaced priorities and support investing in the future of our students.”
Washington, D.C. Communications & Media Relations Manager, CBF
[email protected]
202-793-4485
