Home AdvocacyPolicyWashington Notes2001 Jan

• President Bush Unveils Education Plan
• ESEA Reauthorization a Priority for Congress
• “New Democrats” Introduce Education Bill
• Senate Democrats Introduce Their Education Bill, S.7
• FCC Issues Notice of Proposed Rule Making
• Rod Paige Confirmed as Secretary of Education
• E-Rate News

President Bush Unveils Education Plan

In late January, President George W. Bush introduced his education plan, “No Child Left Behind”, which outlines his education agenda in a series of broad principles. Legislative language will not be available until late February.

The President’s ed-tech plan consolidates E-rate and Title III ed-tech funding into a single block grant. The plan then distributes funds to the states and localities with targeting toward high-need schools, including rural schools and schools serving high percentages of low-income students. Education technology funds may be used for Internet filtering software in order to comply with the Children’s Internet Protection Act of 2000.

The plan also requires states to set performance goals to ensure that technology funds are improving student achievement. It is unclear what will happen to national activities or other programs, such as the Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology program, under the President’s plan.

ESEA Reauthorization a Priority for Congress

The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) will be one the first items to be considered by Congress. Led by the new Chairman Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), the House Education and Workforce Committee has indicated that the Committee will consider ESEA in early March. Rep. Boehner is expected to introduce a bill that closely tracks President Bush’s education agenda. The bill will likely consolidate Title III programs into a large formula program which, in, turn will be distributed to the States and local districts, with local districts receiving the bulk of the funds.

In addition, the new ranking member on the House Education and Workforce Committee Rep. George Miller (D-CA) introduced a bill that reauthorizes ESEA, H.R. 340 http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:HR00340:@@@D&summ2=m&The bill would:

• Consolidate all Title III programs and creates two new programs, Technology Innovative for Learning (TIL) and Go-Girls.

• Authorize $1 billion for the TIL program, which would be similar to the current Technology Literacy Challenge Fund, distributed to states based on a funding formula. The States would then distribute 95% of the funds to local districts with an emphasis placed on low-income areas and districts identified as in need under Title I. The districts will be able to use the funds for a number of purposes. In addition, States are required to establish performance indicators for eligible applicants, including annual goals of progress.

• Authorize the Go-Girls program at $50 million. Go-Girls provides funds to local districts to conduct activities that stimulate interest among girls in math, engineering, technology and science.

• Authorize the National Activities section at $450 million for activities conducted by the Secretary of Education related to education technology. The Secretary is directed to carry out a pre-service training program for teachers, a community technology center program, and a distance-learning program. Additionally, the Secretary may also conduct other education technology related programs.

The Senate is expected to consider ESEA in March also. Senate Health, Education, Pensions, and Labor Committee Chairman Sen. James Jeffords (R-VT) and Ranking Member Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) are working together to draft an ESEA bill. The content of the Senate ESEA bill is unclear, but it is expected that there will be some consolidation of Title III.

As with last year, the Straight A’s bill, will likely surface during debate on ESEA. The Straight A’s bill would provide greater flexibility to state or local education agencies to combine funds under many federal ESEA programs and use them for any purpose allowed by state law.

In addition to Committee ESEA bills, a group of “New Democrats” led in the Senate by Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) and in the House by Rep. Tim Roemer (D-IN) have reintroduced the Public Education Reinvestment, Reinvention and Responsibility Act “Three R’s.” The New Democrats intend to offer the “Three R’s” as a substitute to ESEA when in comes to the floor.

The bill would do the following:

• Consolidate the federal education programs into five goal-oriented titles, focusing on 1) closing the achievement gap between minority and white children; 2) helping immigrant students master English and meet high standards in all subjects, 3) improving teacher quality, 4) promoting public school choice, and 5) stimulating high performance education initiatives.
• Consolidate all current Title III programs into a new technology program, New Economy Technology Schools (NETS). NETS would be a program under Title VI, High Performance and Quality Education Initiatives. Thirty percent of the $2.7 billion allocated for Title VI would be dedicated to the NETS program with LEAs receiving 95% of the NETS funds and the states, 5%.
• Authorize $150 million for activities conducted by the Secretary of Education including some related to technology.
• Allow LEAs to transfer up to 30% of the total funds of Title VI between designated programs, which include school improvement, 21st Century Opportunities, and NETS. Under the proposal, if a LEA determines that technology is not part of its strategic focus, it could divert technology funds to another Title VI program. At the same time, funds from other Title VI programs could be used for technology.

Senate Democrats Introduce Education Bill S.7
In early February, Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD) introduced the Senate Democrats’ education bill, S.7, Educational Excellence for All Learners Act of 2001. The bill consolidates ed-tech with other programs, such as class size reduction and school construction, into a new Title III. The bill includes measures to encourage the integration of technology into classrooms, and provides pre- and in-service professional development to make sure technology is properly integrated in classrooms, and to improve student achievement. It also aims to narrow the digital divide by providing greater access to technology in high-need communities.

Also included in S.7 is a provision for incentives, including salary bonus payments to teachers who “achieve the NETS standards (or another information technology certification) in their area of instruction”. The incentives would be funded as part of grants administered by the Sec. of Education to consortia composed of state educational agencies, institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations (or a combination thereof) who work with state and local agencies, especially in underserved areas, to develop a regional program that addresses 1) professional development, 2) technical assistance, and 3) information resource dissemination.

FCC Issues Notice of Proposed Rule Making

On January 23, the FCC released a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) related to the new Internet filtering and safety policy requirement for schools and libraries receiving E-Rate funding, which was passed by Congress at the end of last year (the CHIP Act). The notice was officially published in the federal register on January 31, 2001. Comments are open to the public and due on February 15, 2001. Interested parties will have an additional 22 days after that to reply to other comments filed with the FCC.

ISTE is drafting comments in response, urging that the FCC interpret the law to provide maximum flexibility to covered schools and libraries. The comments will also urge that the FCC adopt the latest reasonable interpretation of the deadline, and the least burdensome requirements for schools and libraries. The FCC will issue rules for implementing CHIP no later than April 20, 2001. In the mean time, a number of organizations, including the ACLU and the ALA, have indicated plans to challenge the law as a violation of the First Amendment.

Rod Paige Confirmed as Secretary of Education

On January 20th, Congress confirmed Dr. Rod Paige as the new Secretary of Education. Paige formerly served as Superintendent of the Houston Independent School District (HISD), the nationÕs seventh largest with 210,000 students, two-thirds of which qualify for federal free or reduced lunches

Under Paige’s leadership, the HISD has an advanced education technology plan. With a sizeable investment through E-rate, HISD is now integrating technology into the curriculum and using technology to enhance student achievement. The district offers a series of professional development courses in education technology. In addition, the district pays teachers to attend a summer professional development course in technology.

During the congressional hearing prior to his confirmation Paige responded to questions concerning the E-Rate and what is has meant to the HISD. Dr. Paige was very supportive of the E-Rate and explained that the program enabled the connecting of previously unwired schools and classrooms to the Internet, but he stated that he did not see a real benefit to wiring the district. He maintained that research was needed in order to understand the overall benefit of technology in the classroom. He expressed his support for Bush’s proposals to increase funding for education technology research and the creation of an education technology clearinghouse.

Paige also vowed to take action to bridge the “digital divide”, saying that the Bush administration would provide the necessary tools for all children to learn. He also addressed the need for a national commitment on math and science, and expressed strong support for full funding of IDEA, Head Start, after school programs, and rural education.

E-Rate News

Implementation of the New FCC Extension for Funding Year 2 (12/28/2000)

On October 31, 2000, the FCC extended the deadline for using E-Rate funds until September 30, 2001, under certain circumstances, in response to the inability of schools and libraries to complete installation of non-recurring services, through no fault of their own, by the September 30, 2000 deadline.

For a list of eligibility requirements for the extension, see the SLD website at: www.sl.universalservice.org/whatsnew/122000.asp

Eligible Services List is Revised Slightly (12/20/2000)

The SLD has revised the Eligible Services List in the reference area of its website. For full information on the changes, visit: www.sl.universalservice.org/whatsnew/122000.asp

E-Rate Reports

The Department of Education recently released two independent evaluations of the E-Rate. The first report examines E-Rate in relation to American Indian-Serving Schools, www.ed.gov/Technology/erate_amer_indian.pdf. The report finds that schools run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) have greatly increased their E-Rate use between Year 1 and 2, with their schools receiving over $6 million in year 2 in contrast to just $300,000 in Year 1. In addition, all BIA applicants received funding in both years.

The second report is on Empowerment Zones and E-Rate application rates, www.ed.gov/Technology/ez.pdf. The report finds that Empowerment Zone Schools are participating in the E-Rate in high numbers. All Empowerment Zone Schools that applied for the E-Rate received at least some funding in Year 1 and 2.