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From: Fran Keenan <fran@cal.org>
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Subject: [NIFL-ESL:1517] ED Appropriations Bill
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This notice is from the Dept. of Education's EDINFO list. It was
posted last Friday.
On November 13, President Clinton signed into law P.L. 105-78, the
Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill for fiscal year 1998. The
President noted that he was "signing into the record books what is
plainly the best year for American education in more than a
generation."
The Department's 1998 appropriations bill is an important milestone
in the President's effort to ensure that every 8- year-old can read,
every 12-year-old can log on to the Internet, every 18-year-old can
go on to college, and every adult can continue to learn for a
lifetime. The bill is also an enormous vote of confidence in the
work that all of you are doing here at the Department of Education,
and we want to describe some of its highlights for you.
First, the bill provides a total of $29.4 billion in discretionary
funds for the Department. That's an increase of
$3.1 billion, or almost 12 percent over the 1997 level of $26.3
billion. Even more important than the dollar totals, however, is the
support the bill provides for the President's key initiatives:
VOLUNTARY NATIONAL TESTS. The bill provides full funding to proceed
with immediate development of the first-ever voluntary national tests
in 4th grade reading and 8th grade math, based on the widely accepted
National Assessment of Educational Progress. The National Assessment
Governing Board will oversee policies and development of the tests.
The bill also permits pilot testing to begin in Fall 1998.
THE AMERICA READS CHALLENGE. The bill provides nearly $300 million
in new funding for the Department and other agencies to implement the
President's comprehensive strategy for involving teachers, families
and communities in ensuring that all children learn to read well and
independently by the end of third grade. The $300 million includes
$210 million in advance funding for pending child literacy
legislation, $25 million in new funding for Eisenhower Professional
Development State Grants that is earmarked for professional
development in reading, and a $16 million increase for the Even Start
family literacy program.
BRINGING TECHNOLOGY TO THE CLASSROOM. Funding for the
President's Technology Literacy Challenge Fund is more than doubled,
from $200 million in 1997 to $425 million in 1998, to help schools
pay for computers and software connected to the
Internet, provide professional development in the integration of
technology into the curriculum, and apply technology to support
school reform efforts. The bill also includes an 86 percent increase
for Technology Innovation Challenge Grants -- from $57 million to $106
million -- to support a wide range of innovative strategies for
improving teaching and learning and increasing student access to
technology.
CHARTER SCHOOLS. An $80 million appropriation -- up $29 million or
57 percent -- will accelerate progress toward the President's goal of
developing 3,000 new charter schools. Up to 500 new charter schools
will be funded in 1998, for a total of almost
1,000 federally supported, locally designed schools that enhance
choice, excellence, and accountability in public education.
PELL GRANTS. Congress provided a $1.4 billion (24 percent) increase
for Pell Grants that supports the President's proposal to increase
the maximum Pell Grant to $3,000 and raises the number of Pell
recipients by 220,000. The $300 increase in the
Pell maximum award is the largest in two decades.
COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL REFORM. This new $150 million program will
provide competitive awards of $50,000 to help almost 3,000 schools
implement successful whole school reform approaches or develop their
own research-based reforms aimed at helping all children meet
challenging state standards.
SPECIAL EDUCATION GRANTS TO STATES. The bill appropriates $3.8
billion for Special Education Grants to States, an increase of
$700 million that will raise the federal share of serving about 6
million children with disabilities by 19 percent. This increase will
help states and school districts improve educational results for
children with disabilities and help these children meet high
standards, as called for by the recently enacted Individuals with
Disabilities Act Amendments of 1997.
AFTER-SCHOOL LEARNING CENTERS. The bill dramatically expands this
program, providing $40 million to support hundreds of after-school
centers in rural and urban schools across the country. The centers
will provide academic enrichment, tutoring, and other learning
opportunities while giving students a safe haven during the
often-dangerous after-school hours.
BILINGUAL AND IMMIGRANT EDUCATION. The $199 million appropriated for
bilingual education will help school districts teach English to more
than a million limited English proficient children, as well as
provide some 4,000 teachers with the training. The bill also
includes $150 million -- a 50 percent increase -- for the
Immigrant Education program to help more than a thousand school
districts provide supplemental instructional services to 875,000
recent immigrant students.
The following table highlights significant increases in the
Department's 1998 appropriations bill:
($ in millions)
Program 1997 1998 Increase
~~~~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~
Technology Literacy Challenge Fund $200.0 $425.0 $225.0
Technology Innovation Challenge Grants 57.0 106.0 49.0
Comprehensive School Reform --- 150.0 150.0
Eisenhower State Grants 310.0 335.0 25.0
Charter Schools 51.0 80.0 29.0
America Reads Challenge --- 210.0 * 210.0
Bilingual and Immigrant Education 261.7 354.0 92.3
Special Education Grants to States 3,107.5 3,801.0 693.5
Pell Grants 5,919.0 7,344.9 1,425.9
After-School Learning Centers 1.0 40.0 39.0
* Funds become available on October 1, 1998 if pending child literacy
legislation is approved by July 1, 1998.
We join the President in noting the historic importance of the
1998 appropriations bill for the Department. We know you will
continue to work hard to carry out the President's education reform
strategy, and we are excited about the prospects for real
improvements in American education at every level in the coming
years.
Marshall S. Smith Richard W. Riley
Acting Deputy Secretary Secretary
===========================================================
Directions for Locating the Full Text of the "Departments of
Labor, Health & Human Services, and Education, and Related
Agencies Appropriations Act, 1998," (H.R. 2264) at the Library of
Congress's "Thomas" Website
===========================================================
1) Go to http://thomas.loc.gov
2) Go to Bills
3) Go to Major Legislation
4) Go to 105th
5) Click on Enacted into Law
6) Scroll down to item #21 "H.R. 2264" 7) Click on H.R. 2264
8) Scroll down to Law Text at the bottom of the page 9) Click on Law
Text
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