Burchett / 3 Senator Bilund

S.S._____

A BILL
To educate public school students, starting from a young age, about the dangers of climate change and the influence
that humans have on it so that we may be better prepared to take action and gain public support.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE
This act may be cited as the Educational Preparedness Act of 2015.
SECTION 2. FINDINGS
Congress hereby finds and declares that,
1) Climate changes legitimacy is undeniable; 97 percent of all climate scientists agree that climate change is real and
humans greatly influence it.
2) The effects of climate change, such as loss of polar ice, sea level rise, intense heat waves, and extreme weather
events are happening and will worsen until the issue of climate change is resolved.
3) The effects of climate change will lead to lead to life being destroyed, and to entire species becoming extinct due
to changing weather patterns and inability to adapt.
4) Carbon dioxide pollution leads to an an accelerating rate increase in the acidity of oceans, which will eventually
lead to animal shells and coral reefs being dissolved across the world.
5) The global average temperature increased by more than 1.4F over the last century.
6) Only 75 percent of Americans believe that the effects of climate change will occur during their lifetime.
7) Only 51 percent of Americans believe climate change poses a threat to their way of life.
8) The effects of climate change do negatively impact the everyday lives of people.
9) The effects of climate change, such as extreme weather events, are cause for large amounts of money to be lost by
way of making repairs or losing productivity.
10) The costs of putting measures in place to cope with the effects of climate change would be more costly than those
that would be put in place to reverse it or lessen its effects and humanitys impact on it.
11) The current way that climate change is incorporated into schooling in the U.S. is clearly not sufficient to ensure
that prevention of global warming is given enough public support to warrant that the necessary measures be taken to
act on it.
12) Not enough U.S. citizens take it upon themselves to learn about the causes and effects of climate change to
garner public support in its prevention; therefore incorporating it into the U.S. school system is the only way to
ensure that it may be obtained.
13) As it stands, there are no laws preventing states from banning the education of climate change, which creates the
dangerous possibility of people being deprived of an education on it.
SECTION 3. STATUTORY LANGUAGE
A) This curriculum shall start being implemented in third grade. Throughout the remainder of elementary school he
subject will continue to be incorporated into the curriculum.In eighth grade every science student shall have a
minimum of 560 instructinal minutes on climate change. All high school freshmen shall be required to have a
minimum of 400 instructional minutes on climate change awareness.
B) Climate change curricula shall be designed in conjunction by state departments of education and local boards of
education. This law shall be enforced by state departments of education. They shall ensure that all public schools
within their state have adopted an appropriate climate change curriculum.
C) All states found to be in violation of this law shall hereby have five percent of federal funding received for
education revoked, and returned to them when they are determined to have adopted and enforced an appropriate
climate change curriculum for all schools in their jurisdiction. The process of curriculum design shall begin effective
immediately. The curricula designed by the Educational Preparedness Act of 2015 shall be put into effect in schools
at the beginning of the school year in 2017. Districts funding shall increase by .5 percent to provide for necessary
materials due to climate change.