Code Section

71303.  

(a) As determined appropriate by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the State Department of Education shall incorporate into publications that provide examples of curriculum resources for teacher use, those materials developed by the office that provide information on the education principles for the environment developed pursuant to Section 71300.

(b) If the Superintendent of Public Instruction determines that materials developed by the office that provide information on the education principles for the environment are not appropriate for inclusion in publications that provide examples of curriculum resources for teacher use, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall collaborate with the office to make the changes necessary to ensure that the materials are included in that information.

(c) Pursuant to Section 71302, the department shall coordinate with the Secretary for Environmental Protection, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the State Department of Education, and the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to facilitate use of the model environmental curriculum by elementary and secondary schools to the extent that funds are available for this purpose.

(d) The department, the Secretary for Environmental Protection, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the State Department of Education, and the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency may collaborate with other federal, state, and local entities, and nongovernmental entities including nonprofit organizations, associations, businesses, individuals, and private entities, and may enter into interagency agreements, memoranda of understanding, and contracts to ensure implementation of this part.

(e) The department shall make the model curriculum available electronically on the department’s Internet Web site. The State Department of Education shall make readily identifiable on its Internet Web site a link to the department’s Internet Web site containing the curriculum.

(f) The State Department of Education, to the extent feasible and to the extent that funds are available for this purpose, shall encourage the development and use of instructional materials and active pupil participation in campus and community environmental education programs. To the extent feasible, the environmental education programs should be considered in the development and promotion of after school programs for elementary and secondary school pupils and state and local professional development activities to provide teachers with content background and resources to assist in teaching about the environment.

(g) The State Department of Education shall explore implementation of this section from its baseline resources dedicated to this purpose and if funding is not available from that source, then funding may be provided to the department, pursuant to appropriation by the Legislature, under Section 71305.