Bush Cuts Ed-Tech Funds
President's 2006 budget eliminates sole federal funding source for school technology
By Kathy Ishizuka -- School Library Journal, 3/1/2005
School advocates are reeling from President Bush's proposed cuts to education in the FY 2006 federal budget, including the elimination of the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program, the sole source of federal funding for K–12 technology. The Bush plan, released February 7, zeros out the $496 million EETT program, along with 47 other education initiatives for a savings of $4.3 billion.
The president's $2.6 trillion budget, which trimmed nonsecurity discretionary spending by nearly one percent, earmarked $56 billion for education, a decrease of $529.6 million from the previous year's funding.
Melinda George, executive director of the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), says targeting EETT was a particular shock, coming only one month after the Department of Education's release of the National Education Technology Plan, which outlines ambitious new goals to advance the use of technology in schools, including expanding broadband access and creating integrated data systems. Moreover, Congress had already slashed EETT last year by $196 million, down from $696 million proposed by the Administration for 2005.
Critics have expressed outrage at the potential loss of EETT, as states continue to struggle to meet the performance mandates of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. "In most states, EETT is the only source of federal funding to develop the infrastructure and data systems needed to implement NCLB accountability goals and report on Adequate Yearly Progress requirements," explains Anita Givens, chair of SETDA's board.
The loss of federal ed-tech support "will be devastating in North Carolina," says Frances Bradburn, director of instructional technologies for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The state legislature has earmarked $5 million for technology for this year, about $3.75 per student, she says. "So the federal money [$14 million] has been a godsend. We have used it as formula grants and for staff development, and to hire instructional tech facilitators to work in individual schools to help teachers understand how to use technology as a tool."
North Carolina, like other states is at a critical juncture in tracking the schools that received technology grants, an assessment stipulated by NCLB. Culling EETT will mean pulling the plug on an evaluation of technology's impact on student achievement, "just as we're beginning to see real differences," says Bradburn.
Indeed, Bush's budget plan is expected to draw strong opposition from both Democratic and Republican legislators. With a goal of reducing the federal deficit, the president's across-the-board cuts to save $20 billion in one year represent the deepest reductions to social programs since the Reagan Administration.
Bradburn says she was distressed to hear President Bush say that he is eliminating programs that aren't working. "[Education technology] is working in North Carolina. And we're not being given a fair chance to prove that it is making a difference."
