The Maryland State Board of Education approved a proposal Tuesday to embed a comprehensive environmental curriculum into all public schools.
The board decided not to make environmental education a graduation requirement, but all Maryland schools still must include such topics as ecosystems, human-land interdependence, sustainability of natural communities, the Chesapeake Bay’s watershed, and social attitudes regarding environmental policy in their existing curricula.
All K-12 students will need to create a “local action” project that “protects, sustains, or enhances the natural environment,” in accordance with the Maryland Environmental Literacy Curriculum.
The bill was introduced by Assistant State Superintendent of Education Mary Gable. School superintendents must fully meet the requirements by Sept. 1, 2015.
