ISTE Update

ISTE DC

From the Washington, D.C. Office of Leslie Harris & Associates

December 2002 Washington Notes

Appropriations Update

Congress Returns After the Election, Leaves with Unfinished Business

When Congress returned after the election, their agenda included finishing work on the FY03 Appropriations bills and the Homeland Security bill. While the Homeland Security bill was passed and signed into law, the Appropriations process is still unresolved. During the brief lame-duck session following the election, Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and other Republican leaders decided to defer action on any of the remaining spending bills until the new 108th Congress convenes in early January. At that time, both chambers of Congress will be under Republican control. In lieu of completing work on FY03 appropriations, the 107th Congress’ final act was passing another continuing resolution (CR) to fund federal programs at FY02 levels until January 11, 2003.

Despite this cloud of uncertainty over funding, recent developments indicate that FY03 appropriations may be finalized prior to the President’s January 28 State of the Union address. The main evidence for this expectation arises from news accounts of a post-Election Day meeting between Rep. Bill Young (R-FL), Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK), the soon-to-be Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and the President. Prior to the election, Rep. Young and Sen. Stevens had supported increasing the total appropriations amount by $10 billion over the Administration’s FY03 budget proposal. However, when they pressed the President in their meeting to agree to higher FY03 appropriations figures, the President maintained his stance that the Appropriations numbers must not go far beyond his original request of $750 billion. According to press reports, Stevens and Young allegedly acceded to the President’s position.

While described in news reports, this agreement has not been formalized, publicly confirmed by key players or even much publicized. However, if such an agreement was reached and Congress does maintain spending around the $750 billion funding level when it convenes in January, most education programs will not receive an increase and some education technology programs may be cut. Those technology programs likely on the chopping block include the Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) program, the Community Technology Centers (CTC) program, and the Star Schools program. The Department of Commerce’s main digital divide program, the Technology Opportunities Program (TOP), could also be eliminated. Additionally, while appropriators are very supportive of increasing spending for Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), it is unclear whether such increases will come to pass since adding funds to these programs will likely result in offsetting cuts or the elimination of other education programs. Congress may use other alternatives including using forward funding methodology to reach the $750 billion funding level or an across the board cut of 2% in all programs. The Administration is opposed to forward funding programs but may support an across the board cut.

Beyond affecting the progress of FY03 appropriations, the mid-term election’s changeover of the Senate to Republican control (the Republicans will control the Senate by a 51 to 49 margin after Senator Mary Landrieu’s (D-LA) victory in a December 7 run-off election) and solidification of Republican control in the House will lead to a number of leadership, staff and priority changes. The Senate is expected to be led by the following members: Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) as Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) as Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Arlen Specter as Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. They replace, respectively, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA). While the new Senate Republican leadership has shown itself to be generous in the past with federal education spending, the Administration’s focus on defense and Homeland Security may make it difficult, if not impossible, to support increased education appropriations. Moreover, it is unclear whether the new Senate Republican leaders will at least level-fund key education technology programs, as their Senate Democratic colleagues attempted to do, in the face of efforts by the Administration to eliminate programs such as CTC, TOP, PT3 and Star Schools.

While most key education positions in the House are expected to remain unchanged, some of the House’s appropriations cardinals, the current chairmen of the House’s appropriations subcommittees, are facing possible demotion. Upset by the refusal of some of these cardinals to mark-up their FY03 spending bills because they objected to insufficient funding allotments, House Republican leaders may remove some cardinals from their posts. One cardinal potentially at risk of losing his job is Rep. Ralph Regula (R-OH), Chairman of the House’s Labor, HHS and Education Appropriations Subcommittee, who refused to move his bill because he believed that it lacked a sufficient funding allotment to adequately fund key priorities, particularly education. While Chairman Regula’s position is in jeopardy, Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), the current Chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee and Rep. Bill Young, the current Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, will remain in their posts when the new Congress convenes in January.

E-Rate Update

SLD Advises Funding Applicants of FCC Regulations Violations

After identifying rule violations in multiple applications seeking services from the same unidentified service provider, the SLD announced on its website that it was rejecting these applications and detailed the specific program rules violations for the benefit of Year 6 applicants. Specifically, the SLD decided to act on these applications when it appeared that the applicants had compromised the competitive bidding process by: selecting the service provider through a process other than that specified in the program’s rules; selecting a service provider that had not tendered the most cost-effective bid; allowing the service provider to assist them in developing technology plans after the Form 470s had been posted for bid; and selecting a provider that would have provided “free” ineligible services, such as training and consulting. According to the SLD, its application reviewers were tipped-off to these program violations by “nearly identical language in RFPs from a variety of applicants that resulted in awards to the same service provider.”

This unusual posting from SLD may represent the beginning of a crackdown by the SLD on applicants that too closely align themselves with particular providers, thereby undermining the competitive bidding process. Applicants should heed this warning and ensure that their competitive bidding processes are fair and in compliance with program rules. Otherwise, they run the risk of having their applications rejected.

FY2003 Application Filing Window Extended by SLD

At the request of funding applicants and service providers, the SLD has extended the application filing window by three weeks. The new deadline, February 6, 2003, was agreed upon in conjunction with the applicant communities, the SLD, FCC and the USAC Schools and Libraries Committee.

The inability of applicants to understand how to use the new online Form 471 application, and its subsequent removal and replacement with last year’s version, necessitated this extension. Despite this extension, the SLD has said that it will review applications as they are received and is encouraging submission of Form 471 at the applicant’s earliest convenience. The SLD has also confirmed that it will attempt to process applications as quickly as possible to minimize gaps in funding caused by the extension.

SLD FY2002 Cumulative National Funding

As of November 27, 2002, the Schools and Libraries Division had committed $1.55 billion to applicants. Nearly 30,000 applicants have now received Funding Commitment Decision Letters.

.Kids Update

Dot-Kids Domain in the Dot-US Domain

On November 15, Congress approved the Dot-Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act of 2002 (H.R. 3833) to establish .kids.us, a child-friendly space on the Internet for material that is "suitable for minors" under 13 years old.

NeuStar, Inc., the registrar of the .us country code domain, is responsible for developing written content standards for this domain. These content standards are governed by two specific limitations, written into the law, around what is suitable for minors. First, content providers using the dot-kids domain are not allowed to link to sites hosted outside of the domain, however appropriate they might be. For example, disney.kids.us could not link to disney.com or disney.fr. Second, content providers are prohibited from including interactive features such as chat rooms and instant-messaging within the dot-kids domain, unless they comply with standards developed for the domain.

NeuStar is currently soliciting comments from children’s advocacy and online safety groups, as well as educators and parents, for suggestions about content guidelines (comments are posted at http://www.neustar.us/kids/index.html). The firm’s initial guidelines, which were released in August, suggest a set of standards that are in compliance with other existing laws and regulations such as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and the rules set forth by the Children’s Advertising Review Unit, part of the Better Business Bureau. NeuStar also proposes a public interest obligation requiring website operators to commit to some educational and informational content for children.

Registrants are required to enter into a written agreement with NeuStar to use the domain in accordance with standards and requirements for the dot-kids domain. Failure to do so would entail removal of offending content from the website.

James Casey, director of policy and business development for NeuStar, said official content standards would be released in a few weeks. The new domain will be made operational no later than one year after the enactment of this bill.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration is responsible for making sure that NeuStar enforces the new requirements. The final version of the bill grants NeuStar an extra two years on its four-year contract to operate the dot-us domain if it upholds its dot-kids obligations. NeuStar would also be allowed to participate when the government re-bids the dot-us contract.

In a letter presented to Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and George Allen (R-VA), the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) stated that Congress would do better to stay out of regulating domain name spaces. CDT believes that the dot-kids domain raises free speech concerns, apart from being ineffective at protecting children, and is advocating for private sector participation in creating “green spaces” for children online. Ironically, in testimony presented to Congress, NeuStar opposed a Congressionally mandated dot-kids domain, so as to allow the company to develop the domain along lines that would be commercially viable.

In other criticism, educators expressed concern that the dot-kids domain would soon be overcrowded by commercial rather than educational content. Further, some educators are afraid that the dot-kids domain would be unworkable in a school setting where children constantly use resources in other domains such as dot-com, dot-edu, dot-net, and dot-org.

The full text of this bill is available at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=107_cong_bills&docid=f:h3833enr.txt.pdf

National Science Foundation Authorization Act Update

Congress Passes “NSF Doubling Act”

On November 15, 2002, Congress completed action on the National Science Foundation (NSF) Authorization Act of 2002 and it is currently at the President’s desk. Known as the “NSF Doubling Act,” because of the bill’s commitment to doubling the NSF’s budget by 2007, it provides a roadmap for national science research and education funding over the next five years. The bill’s policy objectives include diversifying the national research portfolio and improving the technological know-how of the American workforce. Specific target areas for increased funding include grant proposals rated ‘above average’ that the NSF has, in the past, been forced to turn down, and programs intended to catalyze student interest in studying engineering, mathematics, science and technology. Aside from the increase in federal funding (by around 15% each year over the next five), the bill contains few marked departures from its NSF funding predecessor.

Differences from the previous bill revolve around heightened anxiety about national defense. Because of the pressing nature of concerns about homeland security, the NSF has been allotted more money to support technology-specific research programs. Information Technology Research (ITR) programs and grants are funded at nearly 700 million dollars in FY03, and 750 million in FY04 to promote the creation of cutting-edge cyber-infrastructure and other new technologies. Included in this initiative is Learning for the 21st Century Workforce, a priority area focusing on generating the base of knowledge that will support effective research-based pedagogies to prepare and support the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics workforce of the future.

Concern over the recent decline in the number of students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees in the sciences precipitated the inclusion of provisions that seek to fund partnerships between research institutions and K-12 schools. These programs, under the umbrella of the Mathematics and Science Partnerships Program, will provide funding for math, science and technology teachers to develop effective curricula, implement these curricula and equip their students with the ‘basic literacy’ of technology. Programs include Educational System Reform (ESR), Research, Evaluation and Communication (REC) and Research on Learning and Education (ROLE). ESR provides school systems with access to science and mathematics educational resources and professional development for teachers. The REC and ROLE programs are directed towards the study of the process of learning and facilitating science-specific education.

The bill has been widely supported throughout the legislative process. The House passed a version by a vote of 395 to 12 on June 5 and the Senate unanimously consented to an amended version on the 14th of November. Outspoken supporters have included former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Alan Greenspan, who contend that continued research in technology and science represents the second most important front for homeland security. Supporters have also emphasized the need for increased funding in order to retain the United States’ technological predominance on the global stage in the coming decades. Summing up the views of supporters, House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) said, “This version of the bill is a well crafted, bipartisan compromise that has been agreed to by the Administration…We turn to NSF to solve some of our most pressing problems; we can't turn from NSF when we decide where to invest federal funds. It's time to give NSF the money it needs.”

The question of whether that money will actually be appropriated over the next five years lingers. This publicly trumpeted triumph for the NSF will amount to little if the House and Senate Appropriations Committee fail to pony up the money through 2007.