U.S. May Cut Ed-Tech Funds

Given the prominent role that technology plays in student achievement within President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), it seems incredible that school advocates now have to defend federal support of education technology.

Nevertheless, national education organizations are gearing up to secure critical funding for education technology, after the House Appropriations committee approved cutting the Educational Technology State Grant program by $91 million in FY 2005, marking the first time legislators have proposed slashing the grant, the main federal funding source for school-tech initiatives.

In its July markup of the 2005 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bill, the committee funded the state tech grant at $605 million, down from $696 million in 2004, while increasing overall education funding by $2 billion to a total $57.7 billion in 2005. The committee also slated two ed-tech programs for elimination: Star Schools, which received $20.5 million in 2004 to provide telecommunications services to needy schools, and the Community Technology Centers (CTC) program, funded at $10 million this year to create local computer centers for low-achieving high school students.

"The cuts are devastating," says Josh Farrelman, assistant director for the office of government relations at the American Library Association (ALA). Given the performance requirements set by NCLB, "students need the [technological] tools to meet achievement standards, particularly in lower-income and rural areas," says Farrelman. ALA is lobbying to urge restoration of education funds and programming, including CTC, which counts public libraries among its grant recipients. They include the Hartford (CT) Public Library, which received a $398,092 CTC grant to fund the library's successful 2003–2004 program to encourage struggling local high school students by engaging them in technology projects, such as digital imaging and Web site design. Hartford's Capital Opportunity for Learning Through Technology (COLT) program, which ends this month, has gotten the kids excited about learning, says COLT's manager, young adult librarian Casey Rondini, who laments the proposed elimination of CTC. "It's a shame that a lot of students will miss out," she says.

Indeed, federal funding is critical to such programming; for 25 percent of states, it's the only source to specifically support school-tech initiatives, according to a study by the State Educational Technology Directors Association. So if the proposed cut becomes reality, districts that receive no tech-specific money from their states stand to lose district coordinator positions, professional development opportunities, and the ability to purchase hardware, software, and Internet connectivity, says Jee Hang Lee, a senior legislative associate for the nonprofit organization Consortium for School Networking (COSN).

The House measure is expected to go to the floor later this month, while the Senate begins its own markup of the education bill.

Advocates say that ed-tech cuts are at odds with the goals of NCLB, which mandate the use of technology to improve student achievement. Moreover, NCLB guidelines require that students achieve technological literacy by the eighth grade.

But perhaps because "education technology isn't as hot an issue as it was 10 years ago"—at least in the political sphere, says Lee, those funds are being redirected to other programs, including Title I, which the FY 2005 House bill increased by $1 billion to $13.4 billion. In response, COSN and the International Society for Technology in Education have launched the EdTech Action Network (ETAN), an online advocacy campaign to bolster tech funding in schools. ETAN held a Lobbying Day September 9 to raise awareness of ed-tech issues on Capitol Hill.

Meanwhile, Hartford's library is seeking to sustain COLT through other grant sources, including the Department of Education's Gear Up program, says Catherine D'Italia, a special assistant at the library. "[COLT] provided an arena of success for students who don't have much success elsewhere," she says, underscoring the program's value to Hartford's underserved community. "That's why this program is near and dear to the librarians, because they see a real bonding with teens who may not have an idea what a library is about."