A $180-million measure to improve the teaching of the humanities was introduced in the Senate last week by Senator Dale Bumpers, Democrat of Arkansas, and three other Democrats.
The measure, S 204, would establish summer institutes for elementary- and secondary-school humanities teachers modeled after the summer seminars initiated by the National Endowment for the Humanities, whose chairman, William J. Bennett, was nominated by President Reagan this month as secretary of education.
Under the bill--which would au-thorize $50 million in fiscal 1986, $60 million in 1987, and $70 million in 1988--the secretary of education would award grants to at least one postsecondary institution, or consortium of such schools, in each state.
The maximum grant would be $600,000, or $3,000 per participant for up to 200 teachers. The recipients would have to describe the selection process for participating humanities teachers as a condition for the grant.
Hearings on the bill have not yet been scheduled.
