Home AdvocacyPolicyWashington Notes1999 Nov

Contents

• ESEA Reauthorization to Come in Early 2000
• President Vetoes Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill
• Year 2 E-rate Funding to Reach 20% Level
• Waiting for Your Year 2 E-rate Commitment Letter?
• Year 3 E-rate Forms Now Available
• Rockefeller Introduces Phone Fairness Act
• “Technology in Education” Report
• Implementing the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act in the Classroom
• Examining Obligations of Digital Broadcasters
• High Court to Consider Federal Ed Tech Support for Parochial Schools

ESEA Reauthorization to Come in Early 2000

On October 21, the House of Representatives passed the “Students Result Act” (H.R. 2) by a vote of 358 to 67 and “Academic Achievement for All Act” (H.R. 2300) by a vote of 213 to 208. Under H.R. 2, students receiving Title I funding at low-performing schools would get the option of transferring to other public or charter schools. In addition, H.R. 2 would compel states to reserve up to 25% of their increased Title I funds to reward schools and teachers for closing achievement gaps, require states to write plans for employing fully qualified teaching forces by 2003, and reduce the threshold for participating in schoolwide reform projects to 40%. “The Academic Achievement for All Act” would consolidate funding into block grants at the discretion of the governor and state legislature; the funds could be used even for vouchers.

At present, none of the remaining programs in ESEA are scheduled for Committee mark-up or floor consideration. The Majority Committee staff have said that a “catch-all” bill reauthorizing the remaining ESEA titles and programs, including Title III, is likely to be considered early next year, unless Congress stays in session into December, which seems unlikely.

The Senate Health, Education, and Labor Committee has not yet introduced ESEA legislation. Currently, it appears that Committee Chair, Senator Jeffords (R-VT), intends to fully reauthorize the programs in Title III with increased emphasis on professional development. Current plans do not call for a separate title for technology, and it is likely that these programs will be integrated in some manner into other titles. That bill’s introduction is not expected until later this month.

President Vetoes Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Bill

On October 28, the House passed the conference report on H.R. 3064, the District of Columbia Appropriations bill, which includes the FY 2000 Labor-HHS-Education conference report, by a vote of 218 to 211. H.R. 3064 now includes an across-the-board cut of 0.97% in budget authority. This would result in an increase of only $1.2 billion or 3.7% for the Department of Education over FY 99. The bill is $37 million above the President’s request and $544 million below the Senate-passed bill. For example, “Teacher Training in Technology” will lose $727, 000 and the “Technology Literacy Challenge Fund” will lose $4,122.

On November 2, the Senate passed the conference report on H.R. 3064 by a vote of 49 to 48. The President promptly vetoed the measure. Congress and the President have to negotiate a final bill before Thanksgiving.

Year 2 E-rate Funding to Reach 20% Level

All schools that submitted properly completed Forms 470 and 471 (the Services Ordered and Certification Form) for Year 2 (July 1, 1999 to June 30, 2000) by April 6, 1999, and pass the Program Integrity Assurance Review, will have their full discount requests met, with internal connections funded at the 20% discount rate. The SLD announced this funding breakthrough October 25, at the quarterly meeting of the Schools and Libraries Committee of the Board of the Universal Service Administrative Company, who administers the $2.25 billion fund for telecommunication and Internet access discounts. The total number of requests tallied at $2.378 billion, and with an anticipated payout of slightly less than $2.25 billion (once ineligible requests are eliminated), all requests can be fulfilled.

Waiting for Your Year 2 E-rate Commitment Letter?

Those schools who have yet to receive their SLD Funding Commitment Decision Letter should expect them within the next three waves of mailings, as they are still sending out funding commitments. All of the commitment letters should be out by the end of November.

Year 3 E-rate Forms Now Available

 The SLD encourages schools and libraries across the nation to begin applying for E-rate discounts for Year 3 (July 1, 2000–June 30, 2001). This year the process has been streamlined for greater ease. Forms 470 and 471 have been revised for Year 3 and online applications are now available through many platforms and browsers that were previously incompatible.

Form 470 applicants may file their form at any time at least 28 days before executing contracts and filing Form 471. For tariffed and month-to-month services, applicants will be able to file the Form 470 no earlier than July 1 of the year before the funding year for which they are applying. For multiyear contracts signed on or before July 10, 1997, but for which no Form 470 has been filed in a previous program year, applicants may file the Form 470 at any time as long as it is filed at least 28 days before filing the Form 471.

The extended filing window for Form 471 will run from early November 1999 until January 19, 2000. All Form 471 applications received during this window will be processed as though they were simultaneously received. After January 19 applications will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.

For full information on the discounts and application process, visit the SLD Web site, (www.sl.universalservice.org), call the Client Service Bureau toll-free (888.203.8100) or to get the free documents, call Fax-On-Demand at (800.959.0733).

Rockefeller Introduces Phone Fairness Act

On October 29, Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced the “Phone Bill Fairness Act” (S. 1825) for the purpose of clarifying complicated and misleading billing practices by telecommunication companies. Sen. Rockefeller believes that these practices confuse customers and as a result hamper competition within the telecommunication industry. The complex bills are particularly confusing for residential customers. He hopes that by forcing phone companies to make their bills accurate and clear, particularly with regard to “line item” and federally mandated charges, consumers will be better equipped to choose the company best for them. The legislation requires all telephone companies to provide customers with a detailed breakdown of their average monthly per-minute rate, facilitating comparison among different companies.

Additionally, the bill seeks to expand the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission’s authority to investigate and prosecute unfair billing practices. This authority would include requiring telephone companies to disclose to the FCC their total yearly universal service contributions and receipts. Should the FCC find that a company has contributed less money than it collected for their participation in the universal service program, the FCC would then be authorized to require the excess deposited into the universal service fund.

“Technology in Education” Report

The 1999 “Technology in Education” report, released by a Dun & Bradstreet research subsidiary, shows some progress in bringing technology in to the classroom. The national average of students per computer is down to 5.7 students to every computer, a significant improvement from 10.8 in 1993. However, finding teachers qualified to teach with computers remains a significant problem. Currently, less than 20% of technology funds pay for teachers’ computer training. Also, some areas that have large numbers of Internet users and businesses, such as Washington, D.C., and Silicon Valley, actually have higher pupil-to-computer ratios and/or far fewer qualified technology teachers than less “connected” areas. The report indicates that while progress is being made in putting more computers in schools, without properly trained teachers to instruct in their use, such efforts will yield severely limited results. The report can be ordered online (www.schooldata.com).

Implementing the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act in the Classroom

The rules for implementing the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) were released in mid-October by the Federal Trade Commission. The legislation passed a year ago called for commercial Web sites aimed at children to obtain parental consent before collecting personally identifiable information from minors under 13. The implementing rules are quite complicated, with different rules governing information released to third parties, information for internal use only, and information collected purely for subscription purposes. For-profit educational sites will be affected by the legislation, meaning that the consent requirements will apply in the classroom. The Act appears to allow school personnel to grant consent on behalf of parents and gives school authorities flexibility in how to implement the rules.

Examining Obligations of Digital Broadcasters

Last week, Vice President Gore officially asked the FCC to examine the public interest obligations of digital broadcasters. By sending the recommendations of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Public Interest Obligations of Digital Broadcasters (PIAC), the pressure is now on the FCC to begin a proceeding on the issue. These recommendations explore how digital broadcasters might be required to provide disaster information, improve the quality of political discourse, increase educational opportunities, expand television accessibility for the disabled, and promote greater programming diversity, employment, and ownership in return for the exclusive use of the spectrum.

The FCC also received a petition from People for Better Television, a broad-based, national coalition, asking the FCC to initiate public proceedings on how digital television broadcasters could meet their obligations as “public trustees of the airwaves.” People for Better Television can be found at www.bettertv.org.

Many stations began digital broadcasting in May but action on the scope of their public obligations has been delayed.

High Court to Consider Federal Ed Tech Support for Parochial Schools

In early December, the Supreme Court will hear arguments about the constitutionality of a Title VI program that provides religious schools with computers, instructional equipment, and library books.

Mitchell v. Helms was originally brought 14 years ago by Louisiana parents who challenged several state and federal programs benefiting parochial schools. The court will review a federal appeals court ruling that held that the Jefferson Parish Louisiana school district’s use of federal Title VI money to lend computers, instructional equipment, and library books to private schools in the district, a majority of which are Roman Catholic, was unconstitutional. The court stated that Title VI aid to religious schools violates the First Amendment of the Constitution by allocating public funds for religious purposes. Supreme Court precedents general currently bar the provision of instructional materials other than textbooks to religious schools.

The Clinton Administration has joined Catholic school parents seeking a reversal of that decision. Last spring, the administration told the justices that the 5th Circuit court had “invalidated a form of federal assistance that is highly relevant for private school and also central to the efforts to bring modern technology to all students.”

Prepared by Leslie Harris, Adeena Colbert, and Phil Ugelow
On behalf of the International Society for Technology in Education.