Senate Bill No. 52–Senator Schneider

 

Prefiled January 30, 2003

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Referred to Committee on Finance

 

SUMMARY—Makes appropriation to Department of Education to provide grants to school districts to facilitate participation in supplemental science, mathematics and technology programs for certain pupils and teachers. (BDR S‑852)

 

FISCAL NOTE:  Effect on Local Government: No.

                           Effect on the State: Contains Appropriation not included in Executive Budget.

 

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EXPLANATION – Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted.

 

AN ACT making an appropriation to the Department of Education to provide grants to school districts to facilitate participation in supplemental science, mathematics and technology programs for certain pupils and teachers; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.

 

    Whereas, The JASON Foundation for Education, named in the spirit of the Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts, is a nonprofit educational organization dedicated to inspiring in pupils a lifelong passion to pursue learning in science, mathematics and technology through exploration and discovery; and

    Whereas, The JASON Foundation for Education is the creator of leading educational programs, including the JASON Project, a multi-disciplinary educational program that sparks the imagination of pupils and enhances the classroom experience, and the JASON Academy, an innovative approach to online professional development for teachers, emphasizing the physical sciences; and

    Whereas, The JASON Project is an award-winning supplemental science program for pupils in grades 4 through 9 that began as a dream of Dr. Robert Ballard, the scientist and oceanographer who discovered the wreck of the RMS Titanic in 1986; and

    Whereas, Dr. Ballard believed that enabling pupils and their teachers to do fieldwork interactively from the classroom was a powerful concept that could significantly enhance classroom teaching and learning; and

    Whereas, The materials used by the JASON Project integrate mathematics, language arts and social studies into a comprehensive set of teaching and learning tools which comply with Nevada’s standards for education; and

    Whereas, The JASON Project will help schools and school districts carry out the federal requirements of the “No Child Left Behind Act of 2001” (Public Law 107-110, 115 Stat. 1425), with high quality, standards based curriculum materials, enhanced student performance and the integration of technology into teaching; and

    Whereas, Scientifically based research has proven that participation in the JASON Project significantly enhances the skills that pupils develop in their science, mathematics and technology classes and the project has proven to work well for a wide range of pupils, from those who are at risk of not achieving their fullest academic potential to those who are gifted and talented; and

    Whereas, Through the current participation of Clark County School District in the JASON Project and the JASON Academy, pupils in Clark County have explored from oceans to rain forests and polar regions to volcanoes with leading scientists who worked with them to examine the biological and geological development of the Planet Earth; and

    Whereas, The Nevada Legislature hereby finds that these programs should be made available to as many school districts that desire to participate as possible; now, therefore,

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN

SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

 

1-1  Section 1. 1.  There is hereby appropriated from the State

1-2  General Fund to the Department of Education to award to school

1-3  districts for expenses related to participation in the JASON Project

1-4  and the JASON Academy, including, without limitation, curriculum

1-5  materials, professional development of teachers and transportation

1-6  of pupils:

1-7  (a) For the fiscal year 2003-2004, the sum of $150,000. The

1-8  Department of Education shall distribute $87,000 to Clark County

1-9  School District for continued participation and the balance to other

1-10  school districts within this state that elect to participate.

1-11      (b) For the fiscal year 2004-2005, the sum of $150,000. The

1-12  Department of Education shall distribute $84,000 to Clark County

2-1  School District for continued participation and the balance to other

2-2  school districts within this state that elect to participate.

2-3  2.  The money appropriated pursuant to this section must not be

2-4  used to fund the participation of more than 40,000 pupils and 750

2-5  teachers during the biennium in school districts other than Clark

2-6  County. If more than the number that can be fully funded from the

2-7  appropriation elect to participate, the Department of Education shall

2-8  develop a method for allocating the money appropriated by

2-9  paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection 1 equitably among all school

2-10  districts other than Clark County that elect to participate.

2-11      3.  Any balance of the sums appropriated by paragraphs (a) and

2-12  (b) of subsection 1 remaining at the end of the respective fiscal

2-13  years must not be committed for expenditure after June 30 of the

2-14  respective fiscal years and reverts to the State General Fund as soon

2-15  as all payments of money committed have been made.

2-16      Sec. 2.  This act becomes effective on July 1, 2003.

 

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