Home AdvocacyPolicyWashington Notes2004 May

• IDEA Update: The Senate passed IDEA legislation that contains a significant amount of new technology language.
• Budget Update: The House and the Senate reach agreement on a compromise on the Congressional Budget Resolution for FY05.
• House Subcommittee Debates Fair-Use: Legislation to make it easier for educators to make fair use of copyrighted digital materials received a boost this month from a House hearing and the endorsement of the new House Energy and Commerce Chairman.
• New NCLB Reform Legislation Introduced in Senate: Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) introduced legislation that would create a new competitive grant program to fund the development of school district data systems.
• Dot Kids Gains Momentum: A House Commerce Committee Subcommittee held a hearing to explore the progress thus far made by the ".kids" domain.

IDEA Update: IDEA Passes the Senate

On May 13, 2004, the Senate approved its Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Reauthorization bill, S. 1248, in a 95-3 vote. The Senate's approved version of IDEA incorporates all of the technology language that the Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) Committee passed in July 2003.

The HELP committee bill infused the concept of universally designed technology into the reauthorization bill mandating that technology products and equipment be accessible to people with disabilities from the outset instead of being retrofitted with assistive technology for accessibility. It authorizes states and individual grantees to expend IDEA funds on: research and development of universally designed and assistive technology devices; research on the feasibility of incorporating universal design concepts in the development of standards, assessments, curricula, and instructional methods; development and administration of alternate assessments in conjunction with universally designed and assistive technology principles; and training for all teachers and administrators to effectively use and integrate technology into curricula and instruction. The bill also proposes a Congressional Commission on Universal Design and the Accessibility of Curriculum and Instructional Materials to study the costs and benefits of implementing a universal design standard as a means of accessing curriculum and instructional materials. Additionally, the bill requires that all deliverables from projects funded by most competitive grants in Part D of the Act be accessible to persons with disabilities. Finally, the bill contains language that would ensure that blind students and other students with print disabilities can gain access to print materials for the classroom through a standardized electronic format, known as the Instructional Materials Accessibility Standard.

The Senate reauthorization bill would allow increased appropriations over a seven-year period to reach the goal of the federal government paying its 40 percent share of special education costs by 2011. An amendment pushed by Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE), that would have provided for mandatory funding increases of $2.2 billion each year over the next six years in order to reach the 40 percent goal, failed on a close vote.

The Senate and the House must now appoint conferees to work together to negotiate compromises on policy differences between the two bills. A Conference is expected to take place in June. Most of the technology language in the Senate version of the bill is absent from the House version, but it is anticipated that the House will not attempt to strike this language.

Budget Update: Senate and House Unable to Reach Compromise

For the past several weeks, members of the Senate and House have continued to meet in an attempt to iron out the differences between their respective FY05 budget resolutions. Earlier this week, the House and Senate leadership reached a tentative deal on the budget and the contentious "pay as you go" (or pay/go rules) by extending the rules for one year, but exempting three tax cuts--the $1,000 per child tax credit, standard deduction for married couples, and expanded 10 percent tax bracket. The pay/go rules mandate that any spending increases be offset by funding cuts or tax increases.

The House just passed this new budget resolution by a 216-213 vote. Although the House passed the compromise budget, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) has postponed consideration of the resolution because moderate Senate Republicans have voiced their opposition to exempting the three tax cuts from the pay/go rules. The Senate is expected to take up the FY05 budget resolution sometime after the Memorial Day recess, although it is unclear whether the compromise resolution will pass. Although the budget resolution is non-binding and is not sent for the President's signature, Congress uses it as its benchmark for federal funding levels.

The budget stalemate not withstanding, House Appropriations Chairman Bill Young (R-FL) is preparing to make preliminary funding allocations to each appropriations subcommittee and is instructing his subcommittee chairmen to begin drafting their respective FY05 appropriations bills. Chairman Young hopes to have all thirteen appropriations bills approved by the House Appropriations Committee before the August recess. Basing his tentative allocations on the House's FY05 Budget Resolution, Chairman Young has indicated that the House appropriations will likely total $821 billion for discretionary spending. The Labor, HHS, and Education Appropriations bill, which contains funding for all federal education technology programs, would likely receive $142.5 billion, a slight increase over last year's appropriation level of $139.8 billion. It is expected that the bulk of this increase over last year will be used to increase funding for education. The Senate has not yet taken any steps towards starting the appropriations process.

With the looming Presidential election and the summer political conventions coming up, there will be less and less time available to Congress to debate individual appropriations bills. Therefore, many forecasters predict that Congress will need to roll a number of appropriations bills together to pass an Omnibus Appropriations bill either before or after the election.

House Subcommittee Debates Fair-Use

Members of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection met on May 12th to discuss a bill that would amend the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and refine the critical balance between fair-use policies and intellectual property rights of copyright holders. Introduced by Representative Rick Boucher (D-VA) and Representative John Doolittle (R-CA) as the Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act, H.R. 107, the bill would relax rules in the DMCA and restore a greater measure of fair use to consumers and educators, provided that existing copyright law is upheld.

Although the hearing focused mainly on the rights of individuals to copyrighted materials for personal use, the proposed bill would have significant implications for the education community as well. The DMCA of 1998 created civil and criminal penalties for any individual who "circumvents" an encryption or anti-tampering measure--or Digital Rights Management (DRM)--regardless of whether the individual is doing so for education purposes or distribution en masse. In short, the 1998 law makes no distinction between a teacher who distributes digital media clips in the classroom and the individual who sells thousands of pirated CDs for profit. H.R. 107 would restore fair use by amending the DMCA as follows:

1. Allow individuals to bypass technical protection measures for lawful uses of copyrighted material;
2. Legalize devices that facilitate circumvention;
3. Mandate that copy-protected CDs be labeled as such; and
4. Allow circumvention of DRM for "scientific research" purposes.

The new law would effectively enable educators to circumvent encryption measures to make fair use portions of copyrighted digital materials available to students in the classroom, on a server, or in a distance learning setting. To accommodate digital fair use, the law would legalize devices that circumvent copyright protections.

The proposed bill boasts the support of key members in the technology, education, and public interest communities. ISTE signed onto a letter written on behalf of the Digital Future Coalition, which expressed support for H.R. 107. Other signatories included the American Library Association, EDUCAUSE, and the Consumers Electronics Association. As more and more media is made available in high-quality, digitized form, these groups see widened fair use as a necessary step in restoring the balance between exercising individual rights and respecting intellectual property.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) oppose the bill contending that it would not effectively distinguish between copying for personal use and piracy. They believe the law would harm the music and movie industries and hurt artists. Both groups advocate for maintaining the limitations on fair use set forth in the original DMCA. Despite these concerns, H.R. 107 is well positioned given its bipartisan sponsorship, bipartisan support in the House Energy and Commerce Committee (including the support of Chairman Joe Barton of Texas), and strong backing from the technology and public interest communities.

New NCLB Reform Legislation Introduced in Senate

Late last month, Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT) introduced S. 2345, the No Child Left Behind Reform Act, which would provide states the flexibility to use multiple measures (including drop out rates, AP course participation, and individual student improvement over time) to assess student achievement. The bill would also create a new grant program for states and LEAs to develop and maintain data systems using growth models. A growth model is a data model that is designed to focus on the academic progress of individual students or cohorts of students rather than large groups of students disaggregated based on particular characteristics, as NCLB currently does.

Under Senator Dodd's proposed new grant initiative, states must disburse no less than 80 percent of the federal funds they receive to school districts in the form of competitive subgrants. Districts may then use those funds to "upgrade, create, or manage information databases for the purpose of measuring adequate yearly progress." Districts would be allowed to use their subgrants to: purchase database software or hardware; hire additional staff to manage data; provide professional development for staff; and provide professional development for principals and administrators on how to effectively use data to improve student achievement. Senator Dodd's bill would provide an authorization level of $80 million over the next three fiscal years to fund the program.

The Dodd bill would also alter NCLB by targeting school choice and supplemental services to only those students in the specific subgroups that do not meet AYP targets, and providing additional flexibility for teachers in meeting the highly qualified teachers requirement by allowing states to create a broad-based social studies certificate and codifying the Department of Education's ruling that allows states to have a broad-based science certificate.

Dot Kids Gains Momentum

At a recent hearing in the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, project leaders on the "kids.us" Internet domain delivered a status report on the domain following its launch last September. The domain, which Subcommittee chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) likens to "the children's section of the library," is intended as a child-friendly space with pre-approved, filtered content that is appropriate for minors. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), along with NeuStar, Inc., has been tasked with establishing this child-friendly space, filtering Internet content from registered sites, publicizing the domain, and educating potential user groups such as parents and schools.

NTIA Acting Chief Michael Gallagher reported that the domain is up and running, and is currently hosting thirteen live sites, including sites sponsored by Disney, PBS, Crayola, and the Smithsonian. The NTIA has faced some obstacles, however, in advertising the site and getting organizations to register their domains. Since the September launch, 1,700 domain names have been registered, but the NTIA is looking for ways to dramatically increase that number over the next few months.

"Kids.us" operates on a voluntary system in which interested content providers submit their material for review by registering their site under the "kids.us" domain using one of 12 accredited registrars. NeuStar, Inc., which is in charge of launching the domain, activates the site once the material is screened for inappropriate Web content. Cyveillance, which is in charge of content management, continues to review material on a regular basis to ensure safety for minors. Following activation, registrants that post inappropriate content on their "kids.us" site face potential zone removal if they do not remove harmful content immediately.

Join the Ed Tech Action Network

If educational technology issues are important to you, then please join the ISTE/CoSN Ed Tech Action Network at http://www.EdTechActionNetwork.org. This online advocacy tool will allow you to easily send important messages to your Representative and Senators, learn more about timely ed tech issues, and receive tips for communicating with elected officials. Your voice is critical for impacting the decisions of policy-makers.

Glossary

Conference Committee – A committee composed of temporary panelists from the House and Senate that meet to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of a bill.

Fair use - A somewhat nebulous concept that is often misused by consumer groups, private organizations, and lawmakers alike. The definition, as set forth in Section 107 of the 1976 Copyright Act, states that fair use is the doctrine that allows an individual who has violated copyright to justify that use under "recognized public purposes." Such public purposes may include, "criticism, comment, news reporting, teacher (including multiple copies for classroom uses), scholarship, or research."

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) - The 1997 reauthorzation of IDEA guarantees equal access to public education for people with disabilities. IDEA also includes a grant program to states and LEAs aimed at facilitating the education of children with disabilities by providing increased access to high quality programs and services.

Pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) - A Budget procedure that ensures that all legislation affecting direct spending or receipts is budget neutral in each fiscal year. Thus, any spending increases must be offset by funding cuts in other areas or tax increases.

Universal Design - "The term 'universal design' means a concept or philosophy for designing and delivering products and services that are usable by people with the widest possible range of functional capabilities, which include products and services that are directly usable (without requiring assistive technologies) and products and services that are made usable with assistive technologies." (Source: H.R. 4278, Improving Access to Assistive Technology for Individuals with Disabilities Act of 2004, Section 3)