Connecticut's climate change education bill stalls

When the Connecticut General Assembly adjourned sine die on May 10, 2018, Senate Bill 345, addressing climate change education in the state's public schools, died on the House of Representatives calendar. Just three days before, the bill was passed by the Senate on a 29-6 vote, albeit in amended form.

As originally introduced, the bill sought to require the teaching of climate change "consistent with the Next Generation Science Standards" in the state's public schools, and also to task the state department of energy and environmental protection with helping local and regional school districts develop appropriate curricula to do so.

As passed by the Senate, however, the bill only sought to allow the teaching of "climate change consistent with the Next Generation Science Standards" as part of the science curriculum in the public schools. Connecticut in fact adopted the NGSS in 2015, so climate change is presumably already generally taught.

The bill was also amended to require the state board of education to assist and encourage local and regional boards of education to teach climate change; the state department of energy and environmental protection was still tasked with helping local and regional school districts develop appropriate curricula to do so.