Home AdvocacyPolicyWashington Notes2000 Jun

• Senate Stalls Debate on ESEA
• House Committee Adds Filtering Mandate
• Senate Committee Marks-Up Bill for Labor, Health, and Education
• “Obscenity on the Internet” Hearing
• Glenn Commission Holds Fourth Meeting
• E-rate Update

Senate Stalls Debate on ESEA

In early May, the Senate began debate on S. 2, the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA, http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d106:s.00002:), but after a couple weeks of contentious debate, the bill was pulled from consideration. According to the Republican leadership, debate on ESEA will resume only if both parties can reach agreement on a time limit on debate and a limit on the number and type of amendments to be offered. This move is intended to prevent gun control advocates from offering amendments to the bill.

Before ESEA was pulled from consideration, the Senate voted on a group of key education amendments, with voting largely following party lines. The amendments included:

• Senator Tom Daschle’s (D-SD) Democratic substitute amendment that authorized many of the President’s education initiatives and those of Democratic Senators failed 45–54.
• Sens. Spencer Abraham (R-MI) and Connie Mack’s (R-FL) amendment to allow the use of funds for merit pay, teacher testing, and tenure reform under title II passed 54–42.
• Senator Edward Kennedy’s (D-MA) second-degree amendment to Abraham/Mack would have substituted as use of funds merit schools bonuses for all teachers in a school that improved student achievement. It failed 43–54.
• Senator Patty Murray’s (D-WA) amendment would have authorized about $1.8 billion for the third installment of President Clinton’s plan to hire 100,000 new teachers. It failed 44–53.
• Senator Joe Lieberman’s (D-CT) ESEA bill, S.2254, The Public Reinvestment, Reinvention, and Responsibility Act (“The Three R’s”) would consolidate the federal education programs into five goal-oriented titles. The bill combines all current Title III technology-related categorical grants into a single technology block grant. This amendment was defeated, 13–84.

The Senate has yet to consider any education technology amendments. When debate resumes, Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) is expected to offer two education technology amendments to:

1. authorize preservice teacher training; and
2. strike education technology from S.2’s block grant provision. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) is also expected to offer an amendment to authorize Community Technology Centers.

Meanwhile, the House Republican Leadership has not indicated when H.R. 4141, The Options Act, will come to the floor. The House Leadership is concerned about possible gun control amendments to H.R. 4141. There is now open acknowledgement in Congress that ESEA may not be enacted this year.

House Committee Ups Ed Tech Appropriations but Adds Filtering Mandate

On May 24th, The House Appropriations Committee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education finished markup of the FY01 funding levels for Labor, Health, and Education programs. The Subcommittee increased overall education funding to $37.2 billion for education programs, compared to $35.6 billion in FY00, including $905 million for education technology programs, an increase of $139 million from FY00. The subcommittee increased funding for the following programs:

• Technology Literacy Challenge Fund, $92 million increase, total: $517 million
• Technology Innovation Challenge Fund, $51 million, total: $197.5 million
• Teacher Training in Technology, $10 million, total: $85 million

Most of the other technology programs are funded at the FY00 funding level. ISTE sent a letter to the Committee supporting the funding level for Title III programs. A list of programs and funding levels can be found at the House Appropriations Web site (www.house.gov/appropriations).

The Committee approved an amendment offered by Rep. Ernest Istook (R-OK), which requires schools using federal funds for technology to use filtering or blocking software on all computers with Internet access. Istook has also introduced similar stand-alone legislation (H.R. 2560, http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d106:h.r.02560:) to require filtering software on federally funded computers in public schools and libraries to restrict access by minors to obscene material. The legislation provides that, if necessary, school or library personnel may help access appropriate Web sites that are inadvertently blocked by the software filter. Istook has attached his amendment to the Labor HHS bill for several years but failed to get it enacted into law.

Senate Committee Marks-Up Bill for Labor, Health, and Education

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Labor, Health, and Education programs completed markup of the FY01 spending bills on May 12th. Overall, the Senate Committee appropriated $40.2 billion for education programs, an increase of $4.6 billion from FY00. The Committee appropriated $794.5 million for education technology, significantly lower than either the House’s FY01 bill and the President’s request. There were, however, significant increases in funding in two programs:

• Teacher Training in Technology, $50 million increase, total $125 million
• Community Technology Centers, $32.5 million increase, total $65 million

The Senate froze funding for the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund for FY01 at $425 million and cut the Technology Innovation Challenge Fund by $46 million.

House Telecom Subcommittee Conducts “Obscenity on the Internet” Hearing

The House Telecom Subcommittee held a hearing on May 23rd on “Obscenity on the Internet” at which Subcommittee Chair Billy Tauzin (R-LA) expressed extreme dissatisfaction with the Department of Justice’s enforcement of obscenity laws on the Internet. Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Tom Bliley (R-VA) also expressed concern about easy access to obscene materials on the Internet and urged the Department of Justice to take a more active role in prosecuting people who distribute obscenity online.

Reps. Charles Pickering (R-MS) and Gene Green (D-TX) both raised the issue of mandatory filtering and suggested that a federal filtering mandate for libraries and schools might be appropriate. The first panel of witnesses generally supported filtering but believed that it is a temporary solution at best. Rep. Pickering voiced his support for the Children’s’ Internet Protection Act (H.R.543, http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d106:h.r.00543:), sponsored by Rep. Bob Franks, that would mandate filtering for schools and libraries that receive E-rate funds. That bill was referred to the House Commerce Telecommunications Subcommittee February 24th, 1999.

Glenn Commission Holds Fourth Meeting

The National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century held its fourth meeting May 8–9. Topics discussed included professional development for elementary math and science teachers and draft recommendations for the Commission’s final report due in the fall. The next Commission meeting is scheduled for July 13–14, 2000. The Commission is online at www.ed.gov/inits/Math/glenn.

June 2000 E-Rate Update

High Court Sends Mixed Signals in Universal Service Appeals.
On Tuesday, May 31, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the appeal of Celpage, a paging company, challenging a Federal Communications Commission requirement that it must contribute to the universal service program. The Supreme Court let stand the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals opinion issued last year, that contributions to the universal service fund are part of a particular program and do not constitute an unfair tax. The telecommunications company unsuccessfully argued that the contributions did not follow constitutional requirements for tax legislation and that the law was too vague.

On June 5, the Supreme Court agreed to hear GTE’s petition seeking certiorari on a different aspect of the 5th Circuit’s decision. GTE argues that the collection of the Universal Service Fund subsidies is an unconstitutional taking of its property. Although the grant of certiorari does not mean the Court will agree with GTE, the Court’s resolution of this case could have a significant impact on the universal service program, including the E-rate program.

Also on June 5, the Supreme Court decided to leave intact the 5th Circuit ruling that a phone company’s in-state revenues could not be included when calculating a carrier’s contribution to the E-rate. AT&T had challenged the ruling of AT&T vs. Cincinnati Bell, 99-1249.

Year Three E-Rate Reaches Wave 7.
As of May 30th, the SLD released its seventh wave of funding commitments for Year Three, bringing the total amount of commitments to $546,656,549. Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) has sent 16,863 letters, with an average commitment of $32,417. Rural areas have received 70% of the committed funds, while the remaining 30% went to urban areas. For details on funding commitments made thus far for Year 3, visit www.sl.universalservice.org/funding/y3/default.asp.

Prepared by Leslie Harris, Jee Hang Lee, and Ghani Raines
On behalf of the International Society for Technology in Education.