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April 1998
News of U.S. Educational Technology Policy and Legislation
provided by the
International Society for Technology in Education. |
Compiled, written, and edited by
Phil Ugelow,
Leslie Harris, and
Adeena
Colbert.
Copyright ISTE, 1998.
If you use excerpts, credit ISTE. |
Contents
House Committee Approves Copyright Bill but Leaves out Schools,
Libraries and
Consumers
Despite vigorous protest from educators, librarians, and research
organizations,
the HouseJudiciary Committee approved H.R. 2281, a bill to implement
the World
Intellectual PropertyOrganization Treaty which outlaws the manufacture
and use
of any device that may be used tocircumvent copyright protections. The
bill
protects copyright owners but makes no assurancesthat the "fair use"
doctrine,
which allows educators, scientists, and students to make limited use
ofcopyrighted
works for educational, research and other beneficial uses, will apply
in the
digitalenvironment.
Once again, Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) unsuccessfully offered a number
of amendments
thatwould ensure that educators can distribute copyrighted material
through
networks to fosterdistance learning in a broad range of educational
settings
in the same way they use television intraditional classrooms and
broaden the
range of works that may be performed, displayed, ordistributed as part
of a
multimedia lesson. Despite continued efforts by Reps. Boucher and
ZoeLofgren
(D-CA), the bill fails to include any explicit "fair use" protections,
leaving
it unclearwhether the current balance in the copyright law between the
rights
of the copyright owners andusers will continue in the electronic age.
They have
vowed to offer their amendments again whenthe full House considers the
bill
soon after the April recess. On a more positive note -- thecommittee
did vote
to include a provision to allow libraries to legally browse
copyrighteddocuments.
Senate Education Committee Unanimously Approves Teacher Training Bill
The Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee unanimously approved
a bill,
S. 1882, toreauthorize the Higher Education Act. Title II of the bill
"Improving
Teacher Quality" createstwo new grant programs -- one for States to
institute
state level reforms, and another for localpartnerships to implement
reform and
improvement at the local level. These grants are aimed atimproving the
quality
of the current and future teaching force by improving preparation
ofprospective
teachers and enhancing professional development activities. The funds
distributed
tothe local partnership, in part, will be used to "prepare teachers to
use technology
effectively in theclassroom." The local partnerships will be required
to submit
a plan that evaluates the increase inintegrating of technology in
teacher preparation
and in classroom instruction. Also, states thatreceive funds will be
required
to report to Congress and the Secretary of Education that they
aremaking substantial
progress in increasing the number of teachers prepared to integrate
technologyin
the classroom. The bill now moves to the floor for consideration by
the full
Senate and then to Conference withthe House. The House Education and
the Workforce
Committee approved their HigherEducation Reauthorization Bill, H.R. 6,
last
month. It, too, will soon move to the full House forconsideration.
House Holdse Hearing on Educating Children in Technology
The House Committee on Science and the House Committee on Education
and the
Workforceheld a joint hearing on " Educating our Children with
Technology Skills
to Compete in the NextMillennium." The five witnesses, which included
the President
of Pennsylvania State University,Dr. Graham Spanier, and Dyan
Brasington, President
of the High Technology Council ofMaryland, all emphasized the great
need and
urgency to assure technology literacy among thenation's children. The
hearing
provided insights into the strong interest and concern of themembers
of Congress
that attended the hearing. Many asked poignant questions about
leavingtoo many
children behind and the threats to our national security if the next
generation
do nothave the technology skills they need to compete in the workforce
and become
good citizens. Thewitnesses also emphasized the need for the federal
government
to have a role in improvingtechnology education through incentives,
encouragement
and leadership.
Fate of E-Rate Blocking Bill Unclear
Despite an agreement among key Senators to develop a compromise to
Sen McCain'
legislation(S 1619) that would require all schools and libraries
receiving e-rate
discounts to install softwareto block or filter Internet access, the
future
course of that bill remains unclear. At the March 12meeting of the
Senate Commerce
Committee, S 1619 was adopted by voice, with an expressagreement to
work out
compromise language for the floor. At the markup, many
membersexpressed discomfort
with the McCain bill and both Sen. Burns ( R -Mt) and Sen Breaux (
D.-La) were
prepared to offer amendments to modify the bill. In particular, the
Burns amendment,cosponsored
by Sen. Wyden (D-.Or) which would have replaced the blocking
requirement with
arequirement to adopt Interne acceptable use policies seemed to have
considerable
support on theCommittee. Rather than allow a vote on that measure,
Sen, McCain
offered to work outdifferences prior to bringing the bill tot he
Seante floor.
But while Sen. Burns, Wyden, Breauxfully expect to work out better
language,
Sen. McCain's office continues to put out informationthat fails to
acknowledge
the lack of full committee support for his bill. or the concession to
makefurther
changes. At the same time, the Vice President in a speech to the
national PTA
endorsed the Burns"acceptable use " approach, and Sen. Ed Markey( D
MA) introduced
legislation in the House, HR3442, which would require acceptable use
polices
for e-rate recipients. Rep. Bob Franks (R-.NJ)has introduced a
proposal identical
to the McCain measure, HR 3177.
Rockefeller Bill Requires Phone Bill Disclosure
On April 1st, Sen. Jay Rockefeller ( D-WV) introduced legislation
that would
require longdistance companies that itemize the new school and library
universal
service charges oncustomer's bills to disclose that FCC actions have
lowered
rates as well. .S..1897 would r alsodirect the FCC and the Federal
Trade Commission
to examine the billing practices with in thetelcom industry to make
sure they
are accurate and not deceptive or misleading
Since the start date for the School and Library universal service
Fund in
January, several longdistance carriers have been putting separate line
items
on the bills of business customers to pay forthe carrier's
contribution to the
universal service fund. Those charges vary considerably and haveset
off concerns
that he e-rate will raise the cost of phone service. But phone rates
were alsosupposed
to go down as a result of other actions taken by the FCC pursuant to
the 1996Telecommunications
Act because fees paid by ;long distance carriers to local phone
companies foraccess
to local networks were reduced. Whether those cost savings were passed
on to
consumersis one of the questions that Sen , Rockefeller wants
examined.
School and Library Groups Urge FCC to Protect E-Rate
The Education and Library Networks Coalition ( EdLiNC), a group of
more than
30 school andlibrary organizations, including ISTE sent a letter on
March 29th
to Federal CommunicationsCommission Chairman William Kennard urging
him to "take
whatever action, regulatory orotherwise," is necessary to preserve the
full
funding of the program.
The letter set out the extraordinary efforts that have taken place
to get
ready for the e- rate incommunities all around the country and warned
that "[a]
restructuring of the [ E- rate] programmidstream would do irreparable
harm to
communities all across the nation that have undertakensignificant long
-term
financial obligations in anticipation of this program. Either outcome
wouldnot
only upset the legitimate expectations of all applicants...but will
work particular
harm on thelow- income rural and inner- city communities that the
program was
designed to benefit most."
The EdLiNC letter also criticized telecommunications carriers who
have imposed
additional E-Rate charges on business and residential phone bills.
While applications for the program have topped 44,000, some members
of Congress
continue toattack the program. At a March 31st hearing of the House
telecommunications
subcommittee,Rep. Dingell (D- Mich), the ranking Democrat on the House
Commerce
Committee claimed thatthe program had " been transformed into an
extravagant
entitlement program", while Rep.Michael Oxley ( R- CA), questioned the
size
of the fund and the inclusion of inside wiring andclaimed that wiring
was not
necessary because most schools were already connected to theInternet.
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