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News of U.S. educational technology policy and
legislation compiled
and edited by the Washington, D.C. Office of Leslie Harris &
Associates
for ISTE.
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October, 2001 Contents
 ESEA
Update
In late October, the Conference Committee on the reauthorization of
the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) ratified staff agreements on
various titles,
including education technology. Although the conferees agreed on
provisions
within the new education technology block grant (outlined below), the
issue
of whether particular education technology programs (such as Preparing
Tomorrow's
Teachers to Use Technology, Star Schools, Community Technology
Centers, Ready
to Learn and Ready to Teach) will be consolidated within the new block
grant
or remain as separately authorized programs still remains to be
resolved.
Conferees continue to work on resolving major differences within the
bill.
The conferees still need to address provisions related to flexibility
(Straight
A's and transferability), professional development, accountability and
testing,
and Title I. Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) stated during the last
conference meeting
that the committee was close to resolving the major lingering
differences. The
Conference Committee has scheduled another meeting for November 13,
but final
action on the bill may not occur until early December.
The conferees agreed to the following provisions in the new education
technology
block grant:
- The new title would consolidate the Technology Innovation
Challenge Grant
program, the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund, and a number of
other smaller
programs into a $1 billion formula block grant.
- The federal government would distribute the block grant funds to
each state
based on a Title I formula.
- States would retain 5% of their allocations for state purposes,
60% of
which can be used for administrative purposes. States would be
permitted to
use their 5% of the block grant to conduct longitudinal studies.
- States would allocate the remaining funds to local districts by
distributing
50% through Title I formula and 50% competitively. States would give
priority
in the grant competitions to those districts that did not receive
adequate
grants under the formula program.
- Local districts receiving formula grants for education technology
will
be required to spend at least 25% of their education technology
funds for
professional development. States may waive this requirement under
certain
circumstances.
The conferees also agreed to the following during their last meeting:
- Impact Aid—The conferees agreed to reauthorize this program,
which
reimburses districts for the services that they provide to children
who reside
on tribal lands and in federal low-income housing, whose parents are
in the
military, and whose parents work on federal property, but modified
the funding
formula to ensure that school districts of all sizes receive a fair
share
of Impact Aid funds.
- Native American and Alaskan Education programs—The conferees
consolidated
current programs devoted to these two communities into a single
program for
each community.
- Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities—The conferees
agreed to
reauthorize this program, which supports a wide-range of school and
community-based
education and prevention programs, but created a new federal to
state funding
formula. Under the new formula, 50% of program funds would be
distributed
to states based on school age population and the remaining 50%
distributed
based on Title I. States would be permitted to reserve up to 20% of
funds
for competitive grants. Upon receiving their allocations, states
would distribute
the remaining funds, not including state administrative funds, on a
formula
based 60 percent on Title I and 40 percent on student enrollment.
The agreement
also encourages the involvement of community-based organizations and
other
public entities and private organizations to receive grants under
the governors'
funds (competitive grants).
- School Prayer—The conferees agreed that federal funds would
be denied
to any local school district that prevents or otherwise denies
participation
in constitutionally protected school prayer. As a condition of
receiving federal
funds, local schools cannot have any policy in place that prevents
or denies
participation in constitutionally protected prayer in public
schools.
- Boy Scouts of America—The conferees agreed to deny funding
to any
public school or educational agency that discriminates against or
denies equal
access to any group affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America. The
agreement
would protect other youth groups classified as patriotic societies
under U.S.
law.
- Military Recruiting—The conferees agreed on a provision to
provide
U.S. Armed Forces recruiters access to high school students that is
equivalent
to the access currently enjoyed by college recruiters and job
recruiters.
The agreement would require local schools that receive federal
education funds
to provide military recruiters with access to students and to basic
student
contact information such as names and telephone numbers upon
request.
FY02
Appropriations
At the beginning of October, the Administration and Congress
agreed that
the overall federal funding level for the 13 federal appropriations
bills would
be $686 billion. Congressional Appropriators quickly decided that the
FY02 Labor,
Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill would
receive $123
billion of that amount, $4 billion more than the President requested
in his
budget.
Since those decisions, the FY02 Labor, HHS, and Education spending
bills have
been moving through Congress, with the House approving its version on
October
11 and the Senate expected to pass its version in the next few days.
When both
versions reach conference, though, there will be several differences
between
them that will require compromise. For instance, the House would
provide $49.2
billion for all federal education programs, amounting to a $7 billion
increase
over FY01 spending, while the Senate bill would appropriate $48.5
billion. On
the technology front, the House bill would consolidate all education
technology
programs, except Ready-to-Learn which was funded at $16 million, in an
education
block grant funded at $1 billion annually. The Senate bill would
provide $713
million for the education technology block grant, but separately
appropriate
$125 million for PT3, $59 million for Star Schools, $65 million for
Community
Technology Centers, $24 million for Ready to Learn, and $15 million
for Ready
to Teach.
Senate floor consideration of the Labor, HHS, and Education
Appropriations
has been slowed because of a fight over an amendment authored by
Senator Tom
Daschle (D-SD) that would provide collective bargaining to police,
fire fighters,
and emergency workers. Opponents of this measure are preparing to
offer a series
of amendments to this amendment. The Senate is expected to vote on
cloture to
limit debate and the number of amendments that can be offered to the
bill.
E-rate Update
October witnessed limited activity at the FCC on the E-rate front.
The FCC
has still not released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that was
to focus
on streamlining the program. Rumor has it that the NPRM is undergoing
severe
revisions and that many of the more controversial rule making
recommendations
have been deleted. Additionally, the open Democratic seat on the
Commission
remains unfilled. Andy Levin, chief counsel to House Commerce
Committee Ranking
Member John Dingell (D-MI), took himself out of the running for that
spot, stating
that he did not have the support of Senate Commerce Committee Chairman
Ernest
Hollings (D-SC). A number of contenders for the seat remain,
including: Jonathan
Adelstein of Sen. Daschle'
s staff; Kathleen Wallman, a former FCC and White House staffer; Bob
Rowe of
the Montana Public Utility Commission; Joe Garcia of the Florida
Public Utility
Commission; Greg Rohde, former Administrator of the National
Telecommunications
and Information Administration; and Chris McLean, the former
Administrator of
the Rural Utilities Service at the Department of Agriculture.
The Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) has continued to be the
locus of a
great deal of E-rate activity. November 5 marks the opening of the
filing window
for FCC form 471 for Year 5 applicants. The window will remain open
for 74 calendar
days, with the last day for filing falling on January 17, 2002.
Meanwhile, in
Year 4 news, SLD reports that more than $1.63 billion in funding has
been committed
to applicants as of October 31. To date, no applicants eligible for
less than
90% discounts have received internal connections commitments.
Finally, in mid-October, SLD posted a new eligible services list that reveals
funding eligibility determinations for such services or equipment as Internet2,
servers, voice/video over IP, and dark fiber. The decision that Internet2 is
only conditionally eligible—membership dues or any fees for non-telecommunications
services are deemed ineligible while telecommunications services are eligible—is
already spurring a great deal of discussion, particularly in the state network
community.
CIPA News
October saw several significant milestones in the implementation of
the Children's
Internet Protection Act (CIPA). The Act requires schools and libraries
that
receive E-rate funding or ed-tech funding under Title III of ESEA or
LSTA to
filter or block "visual depictions" of material that is obscene, child
pornography,
and when minors are using the computer, material that is harmful to
minors.
CIPA's rules first went into effect in E-rate Funding Year 4.
As of October 28, E-rate recipients who received their Funding
Commitment Decision
Letters by October 1 are required to certify that they are compliant
with CIPA,
are undertaking actions to become compliant, or that CIPA does not
apply because
they only receive telecommunications services funding. The SLD
temporarily stopped
issuing Funding Commitment Decision Letters during the month of
October, because
entities that receive their letters after the October 28 deadline have
an additional
120 days from either receipt of the letter or their service start date
to certify
the status of their CIPA compliance.
Also this month, the Department of Education decided not to conduct
a formal
CIPA rulemaking process, and commenced sending out CIPA compliance
certification
forms to covered grantees with their grant award letters. The
certification
forms must be returned within 45 days to the Department of Education.
Finally,
during ESEA reauthorization conference negotiations, House and Senate
conferees
ratified an agreement that made clear that even though Title III of
ESEA was
becoming Title V and new ed-tech programs were being created, the CIPA
rules
would continue to apply.
E-Rate Calculator
Funds For Learning, the E-rate consulting firm based in Arlington, VA,
and Oklahoma
City, OK, has created a tool on its Web site, http://www.fundsforlearning.com,
to help E-rate applicants determine the date by which they will be
required
to file their Form 486 Applications for Year 4.
© ISTE, 2001
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