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ISTE Washington Notes
News of U.S. educational technology policy and legislation, posted
as a service of ISTE, the International Society for Technology in Education.
Copyright © 2006 ISTE
Guide to acronyms
used in Washington Notes
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September 2006 Contents
EETT Decision Postponed—Action Shifts to Home
Districts
Congress plans to adjourn September 30, leaving all unfinished business, including
the FY 07 education funding bill, until after the November election.
As the Federal fiscal year ends on September 30, Congress will pass a Continuing
Resolution to keep government programs funded and operating until a final funding
bill is enacted. Thus, next year’s funding for the Enhancing Education Through
Technology program (EETT) remains in limbo. The House Committee bill includes
no funding for EETT, while the Senate Committee bill level funds the program
at $272 million.
Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Tom Harkin (D-IA), the Chairman and Ranking
Member of the Labor, HHS and Education Appropriations Subcommittee respectively,
are working to hold their fellow Senators to a commitment they made during the
FY07 Budget Resolution process to restore funding for education-related and
social services to FY05 levels. The Senate Appropriations Committee’s approval
of an additional $5 billion for education and social service programs is still
$2 billion short of the $7 billion needed to fund all programs at FY05 levels.
As of this writing, Senators Harkin and Specter are circulating a sign-on letter
to their colleagues that advocates for securing an additional $2 billion for
the FY07 Labor, HHS and Education spending bill.
Meanwhile, according to ISTE’s Director of Government Affairs, most Congresspersons
will be in their home districts for the month of October. “We encourage
all ISTE members to keep up the pressure,” she says. “Attend town
hall meetings and campaign events. Speak up about education technology in general
and EETT specifically. Tell members of Congress to fund EETT at $496 million,
its FY 05 funding level.”
top
Deleting Online Predators Act Passes the House,
Stalls in the Senate
Before Congress recessed in August, the House of Representatives passed the
Deleting Online Predators Act, DOPA (H.R. 5319), by an overwhelming vote of
410 to 15. Specifically, DOPA requires all schools and libraries that receive
E-Rate support to block access to all social networking websites. Despite the
nearly unanimous passage in the House, the bill quickly became controversial;
the educational technology community, though clearly supporting the aim of promoting
internet safety, expressed strong concerns with the act as passed by the House.
A senior Democratic Senator placed a hold on DOPA shortly after the House’s
action, thereby preventing the Senate from moving it towards final passage.
DOPA has been referred to the Senate Commerce Committee, which has held no hearings
and scheduled no mark-ups on it to date.
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ISTE Statement on DOPA
As the bill began to move in the House, it generated major opposition from
the education technology community.
ISTE and the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) summarized their concerns
in a letter to Congress: “ISTE and CoSN hold that H.R. 5319’s requirements
represent a significant encroachment on local control of school matters, would
lead to overblocking of valuable educational content, would undermine the stability
of the E-Rate program, and would create a major administrative burden for the
agency charged with administering such requirements. We strongly urge you to
oppose this legislation.”
Other groups opposing the legislation include: the American Library Association,
the National School Boards Association, the National PTA, and the US Chamber
of Commerce.
top
E-Rate and Network Neutrality
The Senate Commerce Committee’s effort to rewrite the Telecommunications Act
of 1996 also will not make it to the Senate floor before Congress leaves on
September 30th, owing the to opposition to what some in the Internet community
view as weak “network neutrality” provisions.
Net neutrality posits that Internet service providers should not provide priority
access to particular websites. The issue emerged when one telephone company
executive suggested that charging particular websites for priority consumer
access to their sites was a viable business model. The Senate Commerce Committee-approved
version of telecommunications reform would not bar Internet service providers
from charging a fee for faster delivery of certain content. It would, however,
require the FCC to study the matter and it would endorse the FCC’s Internet
Consumers Bill of Rights. The House bill would establish an adjudicatory process
at the FCC to handle complaints about discriminatory service provision by ISPs.
Beyond network neutrality language, the Senate bill contains three provisions
favorable to the E-Rate.
- It would make permanent for universal service and the E-Rate an exemption
to the Anti Deficiency Act, an accounting rule which, when imposed on the E-rate
in 2004, caused a three month shut down of the program.
- The bill would establish a sanctions system that would penalize all applicants
and vendors who knowingly and repeatedly violate E-rate program rules.
- It would also establish performance measures that would measure applicant
progress towards connectivity goals.
With controversy mounting about the Senate’s net neutrality language, though,
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AK) has thus far been unable
to round-up enough votes to prevent a filibuster if this bill is brought to
the Senate floor. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) had told Senator
Stevens that he could not bring any bill to the floor unless it was “filibuster-proof”
because of the lack of available floor time before this Congressional Session
expires. Both Senator Stevens and Commerce Committee member John McCain (R-AZ)
believes that an expected lame duck session of Congress after the November election
could provide an opportunity to pass this legislation.
Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission issued a major order that
granted waivers to 128 school districts, including several in Alaska, whose
applications USAC rejected on the grounds that clerical and ministerial errors
caused them to be filed late. This ruling represents a significant change in
FCC thinking on the program, demonstrating that the FCC will now no longer automatically
reject applications deemed untimely owing to small clerical or administrative
errors.
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Senate Competitiveness & Innovation Bill
A re-crafted Competitiveness and Innovation Bill was recently unveiled in the
Senate by bi-partisan group of senators, including: Senators Alexander (R-TN),
Bingaman (D-NM), Domenici (R-NM), Ensign (R-NV), Enzi (R-WY), Hutchison (R-TX),
Kennedy (D-MA), Inouye (D-HI), Lieberman (D-CT) and Stevens (R-AK).
The education portion of the bill focuses primarily on improving and expanding
the pool of math, science and foreign-language teachers in the US, with the
ultimate goal of making the US more competitive in the current global economy
by enriching the education for those students likely to enter math- or science-related
fields.
The bill also includes grants through the Department of Energy and National
Science Foundation that would create specialty science- and math-related schools,
summer institutes, and other programs to serve as a mechanism to attract math-
and science-oriented students to those fields at an early age.
Provisions in the bill include required teacher training activities that focus
on the use and integration of technology in the classroom.
“ISTE is pleased that this version of the legislation has a stronger focus
on education technology,” says ISTE CEO Don Knezek. “It’s only logical
to ensure that classroom teachers have the skills and training they need to
prepare students for the future they will face.”
Though there was hope among the writers of the bill that it would go to the
Senate floor for a full vote before Congress leaves, that remains unlikely.
There has been no movement in the House on this bill.
Join the Ed Tech Action Network!
If educational technology issues are important to you, then please join the
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 education technology
issues, and receive tips for communicating with elected officials. Your voice
is critical for impacting the decisions of policy-makers.
From the Washington, D.C.
Office of Bernstein Strategy Group
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The following message is posted as a service of ISTE,
the International Society for Technology in Education.
This message may not be reposted without this header.
Copyright © 2006 ISTE
| Washington Notes, September, 2006 |
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