Home AdvocacyPolicyWashington Notes2008 January

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 © 2008 ISTE Guide to Acronyms used in Washington Notes

January 2008 Contents

• FY08 Appropriations: EETT Funded at $267.5 Million
• FY09 Budget Battles Begin
• NCLB Outlook not Positive
• Proposed Improvements Include ATTAIN
• E-Rate Update

FY08 Appropriations: EETT Funded at $267.5 Million

After months of political wrangling that included vetoes, failed veto overrides, and intense partisan battles between the White House and Congress over FY08 appropriations, President Bush in late December signed an omnibus bill that encompassed the eleven remaining appropriations bills, including the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill. 

The Enhancing Education Through Technology program survived political horse-trading but sustained a $5 million cut over last year due to a 1.747% across-the-board reduction that cut all FY08 programs. Appropriators agreed to the across-the-board cut in order to keep the overall appropriations numbers below the level set in the President’s initial budget proposal. Nonetheless, this represents a big victory for education technology because the bill preserves EETT after the President had again sought to eliminate all funding for this program.

While this omnibus bill provides much less money for domestic priorities than Democrats had sought, congressional leaders were able to avert major cuts to key funding priorities such as education, low income housing and National Insitutes of Health medical research by redirecting funds from some of President Bush’s priorities, including nuclear weapons programs and abstinence education.  Overall, the U.S. Department of Education saw a $2 billion increase over last year.   Despite these small victories, some Democrats were not pleased with the bill.  House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-WI) commented, "The omnibus appropriations bill is totally inadequate to meet the long-term investment needs of the country, but it is a whole lot better than the country would have without a Democratic Congress."

Here is a list of how key education programs fared in the final bill, compared with last year’s funding and the Administration’s original proposal.

FY09 Budget Battles Begin

The dust had barely settled from FY08 budget battles when they began for FY09.  As in previous years, President Bush submitted a budget that included no funding for EETT.  ISTE CEO Don Knezek responded immediately, saying "Zeroing out EETT makes no sense in the face of a tightening job market and stagnating test scores...EETT provides our students with the technological skills and know-how to compete for employment in a tough job market, and create innovative solutions to modern problems." (Read Knezek's full statement at www.iste.org/news).

NCLB Outlook not Positive

Throughout 2007, Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle, as well as President Bush, maintained that they were committed to reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) before Congress adjourned at the end of the year.  However, with a long and contentious appropriations cycle and major policy differences on key pieces of the bill, the year ended with no formal bill introduced by either House of Congress.  NCLB reauthorization was put off until at least this year. 

With the 2008 Congressional year now underway, lawmakers, education reformers and the president have come out with statements calling for major changes to a draft bill released last summer by the House Education & Labor Committee. Rumor has it that Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) will take a stab at pulling together a full draft of a NCLB reauthorization bill from his perch as Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. He may even introduce it formally and hold a mark-up this spring. But, with a Congressional year shortened and overshadowed by Presidential elections, prospects for Congress to move a bill by year’s end appear dim.

At this time, the House Education & Labor Committee has not announced when, or if, it will formally introduce a bill based on the draft that it circulated last summer. According to a spokeswoman for Committee Chairman George Miller, (D-CA), negotiations are ongoing to "significantly improve the law." Miller has been under particular pressure for NCLB reauthorization because the draft bill that he released drew fire from all sides – the Administration, key members of Congress and many in the education stakeholder community, especially the National Education Association. Objections ran the gamut from complaints that the bill did not go far enough in allowing new, alternate measures into a revised adequate yearly progress formula (which measures whether schools and districts are meeting goals for reading and math proficiency based on state proficiency tests) to assertions that it went too far in allowing any alternate measures to objections that the alternate measures proposed were the wrong ones.

Proposed Improvements Include ATTAIN

The education technology community, however, was pleased with the Miller draft and a later, smaller Kennedy draft of NCLB reauthorization legislation because both incorporated the key components of the Achievement Through Technology and Innovation bill (ATTAIN). That bill, developed by ISTE, its members, and other Ed Tech groups, would revamp the current Enhancing Education Through Technology program by targeting funds towards professional development and district-wide reform programs that make heavy use of technology.
 
In response to the delay in NCLB reauthorization legislation, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings and President Bush warned Congress that if it continues to stall the reauthorization process, she will “partner with states and districts" to make changes on her own.  Spellings recently chastised Congress for failing to move on updating the law, saying, "Congress has had over a year to consider these reforms, but students and teachers need help now." Spellings also criticized education interest groups who had come out against the draft legislation, placing some blame on them for the lack of movement on the bill.  Her remarks echoed President Bush's threat this week to act unilaterally to strengthen NCLB if Congress did not extend the program. 

On the presidential trail, all of the Democratic candidates have come out against the law, calling for massive overhauls, particularly to its testing requirements.  The candidates generally say NCLB’s strong focus on math and reading test scores has led to an overly-narrow and regimented curriculum.  Spellings responded to this criticism, saying that the administration would not compromise on this core principle of the law.

E-Rate Update

The biggest E-Rate news of the past month is the enactment of a one-year extension to the E-Rate program’s and all of universal service’s exemption from the Anti Deficiency Act (ADA). Congress passed the exemption extension, which will now last until December 31st, 2008, as part of the Omnibus Appropriations bill, and the President approved it just five days before the current exemption was scheduled to expire. As a result of this extension, E-Rate applicants need not worry about enduring the kind of funding disruptions that occurred in 2004, when the E-Rate was forced to shutdown for three months after its administrator applied provisions of the ADA to the program.

While the extension is certainly good news for schools, it still does not represent a permanent solution to the ADA problem. Two pieces of legislation – S. 609 on the Senate side and HR 278 in the House – were introduced last year to establish a permanent exemption for E-Rate and all of universal service. S. 609, sponsored by Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), has attracted 31 cosponsors. HR 278, sponsored by Rep. Barbara Cubin (R-WY), has 47 cosponsors. Prospects for a permanent exemption becoming law remain uncertain.

Meanwhile, over at the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), which administers the E-Rate, the countdown to the closing of the Program Year 2008 application window is on. The application window officially closes at 11:59 PM EST on February 7th, with the deadline for posting online Form 470s for bid having passed on January 10th.

From the Washington, D.C.
Office of Bernstein Strategy Group
*************************
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 © 2008 ISTE