John Sarbanes: “In the Chesapeake Bay region, the Governors of Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and the Mayor of the District of…”

“In the Chesapeake Bay region, the Governors of Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and the Mayor of the District of Columbia have recognized the importance of engaging students in the protection of the Chesapeake Bay. The States have each enacted legislation to integrate environmental standards into the curriculum for particular grade levels. As signatories to the Chesapeake 2000 Agreement, they have also committed to ``provide a meaningful Bay or stream outdoor experience for every school student in the watershed before graduation from high school'' beginning with the class of 2005. Likewise, several not-for-profit organizations including the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and the Living Classrooms Foundation have spearheaded efforts to create long-term, cohesive education programs focused on the local environment. They have developed terrific partnerships with schools and are helping teachers develop and implement quality instruction, investigations and Bay or stream-side projects. Unfortunately, all these efforts and programs are only reaching a very small percentage of the more than 3.3 million K-12 students in the watershed.”