Duplication Is Seen in Federal Science-Education Programs

A new report out today from the main federal watchdog agency, the Government Accountability Office, may be giving Congress reasons to cut some of the $3-billion spent each year on programs to promote science education. The GAO found that only about a quarter of the 209 federal programs for improving science and engineering education at 13 different federal agencies have been evaluated for effectiveness since 2005, and that nearly 90 percent of them overlap with at least one other program. The report was requested last January by Republicans leading the House education committee.