[NHDOE-ETNews] Update: Federal Budgeting for Educational Technology

[Higgins, Cathy]

Below is some updated information received from the State Educational
Technology Directors Association (SETDA) on the status of federal
budgeting for educational technology:

House Appropriations Committee Seeks to Eliminate EETT in FY11
On February 11, the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee
introduced a bill (H.R. 1
<http://appropriations.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressReleases.Deta
il&PressRelease_id=263&Month=2&Year=2011> ) to cut $100 billion from the
President's FY11 budget request in an effort to immediately and
dramatically reduce federal spending. Under the proposal, 56 federal
education programs - including EETT - would be completely eliminated
while 11 others would see major cuts. A full list of proposed cuts -
which the House is expected to vote to approve this week - can be found
in the Committee for Education Funding's summary document
<http://setda.us1.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=1f18c643d052d9f509a7060
f4&id=21d6d690f6&e=d91409351a> . When and how the Senate responds to the
House action is not entirely clear - and the President has issued a veto
threat - but it is increasingly likely we will see deeper cuts to
education funding for FY11 than nearly anyone had anticipated. Congress
will need to act by March 4 when the current continuing resolution
expires. If you wish to contact Members of Congress to share your views
on the value of the program and impact an elimination would have on
teachers and students, contact information is available at this website:
http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/Legislative.shtml

FY12 Obama Administration Budget Request Seeks EETT Consolidation
While Congress will first need to act on the FY11 budget (per above),
the Obama Administration released its FY12 budget request
<http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget12/index.html>  on
February 14 seeking an increase in overall education spending, including
to a number of new initiatives. A number of educational technology
initiatives are included in the budget, including a request for a new
R&D agency (DARPA-ED) focused on educational technology and for a small
special education-focused program on cloud computing. However, the
treatment of EETT in the FY12 budget request is functionally identical
to their FY11 request: eliminate EETT through consolidation while
encouraging other programs to support educational technology through
existing allowable use authorities. Further thoughts on what program
consolidation would mean for educational technology
<http://thejournal.com/articles/2011/02/14/ed-tech-consolidated-in-2012-
federal-budget-proposal.aspx>  can be found in this T.H.E. Journal
article.



Regards,

Cathy Higgins, Ed.D.
State Educational Technology Director
Office of Educational Technology
New Hampshire Department of Education
Email: chiggins at ed.state.nh.us
Phone: 603.271.2453
Web: http://www.nheon.org/oet/ and
http://education.nh.gov/instruction/ed_tech
<http://education.nh.gov/instruction/ed_tech/index.htm>