Key Legislation and Agency Proceedings

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on E-Rate Program

At the Open Commission Meeting held at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on May 20th, the FCC approved a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that proposed a number of significant changes to the E-Rate program. Initial Comments regarding the proposals in the NPRM are due on July 9, 2010, Reply Comments are due July 26, 2010.

The most important change in the NPRM was Commission’s proposal to increase the E-Rate’s annual $2.25 billion cap. Specifically, the NPRM proposes to tie the cap to inflation, allowing annual increases. According to the NPRM, if the E-Rate cap is tied to inflation, the E-Rate would grow to $2.55 billion over the next five years, based on current inflationary changes. Although CoSN and ISTE applaud the Commission in attempting to raise the cap, this proposal represents far less than the education and library community seek for the E-Rate. ISTE and CoSN, have pushed for an immediate increase in the E-Rate’s cap, one that would reflect the approximately $4 billion in annual demand for E-Rate support, and annual cap increases linked to inflation.

In lieu of significantly increasing the cap, however, the NPRM proposes ways for the E-Rate program to do more with the same amount of money. Recognizing that the continued growth in demand for Priority I (telecommunications and Internet access services) is leading inexorably to no support remaining for Priority II (internal connections), the NPRM offers a menu of options to secure more funding for Priority II. The options proposed include: 1) establishing a per student per district cap for Priority II support; 2) setting aside a specific amount of funding for Priority II support (which could lead to rationing or pro rating Priority I services); 3) revising the current priority queue for access to Priority II services; 4) requiring applicants to pay a larger share of the costs of services; 5) restricting Priority II applications to only school districts and not allowing individual schools to apply separately; and 6) eliminating support for or capping basic maintenance services.

The NPRM also offers proposals to expand eligible services covered, including extending E-Rate support to Internet access services for student laptops taken off campus and to dark fiber. But the most popular proposals with the education and library communities, outside of raising the cap, were a number of changes to streamline the E-Rate’s application system, particularly for those only seeking Priority I services. These proposals include: eliminating E-Rate technology planning requirements for all Priority I applicants that otherwise are subject to state and local technology planning requirements; eliminating the Form 470 and posting processes for those applicants seeking Priority I support; and to improving the online application system.

Other proposed structural changes to the program include altering the discount matrix and adopting a new definition for rural. Additionally the NPRM proposed criteria for schools and libraries on the disposal of obsolete equipment.

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Sustain EETT Funding in FY11 and Infuse Technology into ESEA Rewrite

In February 2010, President Obama introduced his proposed FY11 budget, which recommended significant changes to the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program and Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). In fact, President Obama’s proposed budget would eliminate funding for the EETT program in FY11 and delete the program entirely when Congress reauthorizes ESEA sometime in the next two years. Instead of having EETT or a successor program as a separate, directed federal program, the Administration’s budget proposes to infuse technology throughout the eleven major funding priorities that the Administration supports in a refashioned ESEA.

Although the proposed budget would increase FY11 funding for the Department of Education by 6.2% ($4.5 billion) to a total of $50.7 billion, most major federal education programs (Title I, Special Education, Teacher Quality block grants) would not receive any increase in funds. Most of the proposed additional monies would be steered to new programs and additional competitions for the Race to the Top and Investing in Innovation programs.

The President’s used the proposed budget as a platform to launch his reauthorization of ESEA. According to the budget and a subsequent ESEA blueprint, the President would streamline the current ESEA structure by combining the 38 current line-item discretionary programs into eleven large buckets and eliminating six smaller programs. The proposed budget is centered on nine specific priorities, which would form the skeleton of the new ESEA. These priorities are:

• Promoting Innovation in Education
• Effective Teachers and School Leaders
• Supporting Student Success
• Improving STEM Education
• All Students College- and Career Ready
• College Access and Completion
• Higher Education Programs
• Improving Outcomes for Adult Learners
• Research, Statistics and Data Systems 

The Administration’s vision for ESEA does not include a separate education technology program. Rather than having a directly funded education technology program, the administration proposes to fold technology into the newly configured Effective Teaching and Learning (ETL) program (as well as infuse technology throughout ESEA). Under the ETL program, technology would support all three of ETL’s competitive grant programs: Effective Teaching and Learning: Literacy; Effective Teaching and Learning: STEM; and Effective Teaching and Learning for a Well Rounded Education. These three programs would also be supported by a national activities authority that would promote interdisciplinary strategies.

CoSN, ISTE, and SETDA released a joint statement that urged Congress to restore funding for EETT in FY11 appropriations. In their statement, the groups argued that: “Congress and the President included EETT as a core provision of the current ESEA law in recognition of the importance of driving the next generation of innovations in teaching and learning, assessment and continuous improvement, and cost-efficiency in coordination with other federal, state and local school improvement strategies. We fear that years of investments through EETT and the E-Rate, coupled with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act investment, may be devalued or lost entirely without adequately funding EETT or a successor program.”

The three groups also expressed support for the concept of infusing technology throughout ESEA but cautioned that the infusion strategy must be meaningful. “We fully concur that, as the President stated, ‘technology, when used creatively and effectively, can transform education and training.’ We would like to see those sentiments translated into specific, tangible allocations that meaningfully incorporate technology throughout the Administration’s new vision for ESEA and to the benefit of all students. In our view, a newly reauthorized ESEA must infuse technology across all program areas and be supported by targeted research, evaluation and investments that enhance state and local educational technology leadership and capacity, educator professional development, and technology-based innovation.”

Thus far, however, the House and Senate have moved slowly to enact the Administration’s proposed budget and have made little progress on completing reauthorization of ESEA. In May, the Senate Budget Committee kicked off the FY11 budgeting process by passing its version of a FY11 Congressional Budget Resolution but the House Budget Committee has not yet marked up its FY11 budget. Although the Senate version included President Obama’s $3.5 billion increase for education, it also included an overall decrease of $4 billion dollars and recognized a $5.5 billion dollar shortfall in the Pell grant program. Those differences, combined with the lack of available floor time for Congress to consider a Budget Resolution, may make it difficult for both Houses of Congress to reach agreement and pass a spending blueprint for FY11 appropriations soon. In the event that Congress cannot pass a Budget Resolution, it may pass separate legislation, called a Deeming Resolution, to allocate federal funds to each appropriations subcommittee which, in turn, determines annual appropriations for individual programs.

As Congress works on the Budget, CoSN and ISTE advocates have pushed hard for support for funding the Enhancing Education Through Technology program (EETT) and for its continuation in some form in a reauthorized ESEA. Through their efforts, Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) wrote a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-A) and Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-MS) asking that EETT receive $500 million in FY11 appropriations. Twenty-one other Senators joined Sen. Bingaman in his request:

Bennet (CO)
Bingaman (NM)
Boxer (CA)
Brown (OH)
Cardin (MD)
Dodd (CT)
Gillibrand (NY)
Kaufman (DE)
Lautenberg (NJ)
Levin (MI)
Lieberman (CT)
Menendez (NJ)
Merkley (OR)
Mikulski (MD)
Rockefeller (WV)
Schumer (NY)
Shaheen (NH)
Stabenow (MI)
Udall (NM)
Whitehouse (RI)
Wyden (OR)

The letter made a strong case for continuing education technology in the next ESEA reauthorization: “The strategic use of education technology improves teaching and learning, especially in low-income and rural schools. Many states and schools, however, currently face challenges in meeting the academic needs and expectations of today’s students. Congress should support the infusion of education technology throughout education programs and also preserve a dedicated stream to support technology in schools. Because state and local education budgets are especially strained in the current economic climate, eliminating EETT would dramatically reduce the availability of education technology in many American public schools.”

House and Senate Appropriations leaders also heard from education technology stakeholders about the importance of funding EETT in a late April letter signed by more than 65 national and state education associations and companies. The letter stated in part: “Targeting investment in technology-based innovation through EETT is foundational to achieving the nation’s education reform goals. EETT formula grants are a critical vehicle for both enhancing state and local leadership capacity toward next generation education reform, as well as for coordinating disparate school improvement program investments that leverage educational technologies. EETT state-administered competitive grants are critical to further building out the research and evaluation framework needed to help transform education, at scale, into an evidence-based system of continuous improvement. Additionally, EETT plays an integral role in supporting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education initiatives critical to America’s competitiveness.”

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Anti Deficiency Act Legislation

Over the past six Congressional sessions, Congress has passed and the President has signed legislation to temporarily exempt E-Rate and all of universal service from the Anti Deficiency Act (ADA), a federal law that bars agencies from obligating funds not residing in their bank accounts. When the FCC deemed E-Rate funding commitment letters obligations in 2004, the E-Rate program was forced to shut down for three months because not all E-Rate dollars had been collected in program accounts. The next ADA exemption expires on December 31, 2010. Without the enactment of an additional temporary exemption or a permanent exemption, the E-Rate could face another shut-down in 2011.

Senators Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) have introduced legislation, S. 348, which would make permanent the ADA exemption for E-Rate and all of universal service. Representatives Dennis Rehberg (R-MT) and Betsy Markey (D-CO) have introduced a companion bill, H.R. 2135, in the House. ISTE and CoSN support both bills.

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Achievement Through Technology and Innovation Act (ATTAIN)

The Achievement Through Technology and Innovation Act (ATTAIN) is a new technology program that builds upon the Enhancing Education Through Technology Program (EETT) under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). ATTAIN relies on data from several research studies to focus on the integral role of education technology in systematic school redesign and professional development for core curricular areas. The House bill, H.R. 558, is cosponsored by Representatives Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Hinojosa (D-TX), Biggert (R-IL), and Kind (D-WI). The Senate version of ATTAIN, S.818, is cosponsored by Senators Bingaman (D-NM), Burr (R-NC), Murray (D-WA), and Hatch (R-UT).

The ATTAIN Act would leverage the success of EETT in order to improve student achievement in core curricular subjects by providing students with technology skills, and access and support to ensure that all teachers are properly equipped to use technology effectively. ATTAIN would also fund professional development and systemic redesign initiatives that leverage 21st century technologies, prioritize funding to schools in need of improvement, and require states to assess whether students have attained technological literacy by the eighth grade.

Specifically, the ATTAIN Act would update the existing EETT program by:

• Increasing the share of state-to-local funding distributed by formula from 50% to 60% and adding a minimum grant size in order to assure that more school districts receive allocations of sufficient size to permit them to operate significant education technology programs;
• Strengthening the program’s emphasis on teacher quality and technology skills by raising the portion of formula-grants set aside for professional development from 25% to 40%, while emphasizing the importance of timely and ongoing training;
• Channeling the 40% of funds allocated for competitive grants, previously unrestricted, to schools and districts for systemic school reform built around the use of technology to redesign curriculum, instruction, assessment and data use;
• Aligning the program more closely with NCLB’s core mission by giving priority in competitive grant awards to schools identified as in need of improvement, including those with a large percentage of Limited English Proficient students and students with disabilities, as well as by focusing formula grants on students and subjects where proficiency is most lacking;
• Renewing NCLB’s commitment to ensuring that students are technologically literate by the eighth grade through requiring states to assess student knowledge and skills, including through embedding assessment items in other state tests and performance-based assessments portfolios; and
• Establishing a National Center for Achievement Through Technology to conduct research on education technology implementations and disseminate best practices.