A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

   FOR RELEASE                                Contact:  Jim Bradshaw    March 3, 1995                                      (202) 401-2310

Access To Information Highway Threatened by Proposed $65 Million Cuts In Education Technology Programs

For an estimated 50,000 low-income students in many of the nation's poorest areas, the dream of using computers to learn their lessons may remain just that -- a dream.

Money that would directly benefit those students was among the $65 million in education technology programs slashed by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, HHS, Education and Related Agencies.

"The message from the House panel to poor students is clear -- you can't get on the Information Superhighway," U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley said.

Among the technology programs proposed for elimination:

National Challenge Grants, a $27 million effort to support state-of-the-art technology projects in approximately 20 low-income urban and rural school districts. Through private sector partnerships, more than 50,000 indigent children would be among those participating. The grants are designed to demonstrate that computers and information networks belong in every classroom.
Star Schools, a $30 million program using satellites, fiber optics, television and computers to link 200,000 students and 30,000 teachers in 25 states with quality classroom instruction. Students in some of the poorest, most rural areas of the nation receive the same innovative teaching as those in more affluent schools. On the horizon: a new distance-learning program to help adults complete high school requirements.
Technology-based training, a $2.25 million project to help teachers in at least 15 states move all students toward challenging standards in math.

Besides those outright eliminations, the House panel cut other projects, including:

Technology technical assistance centers by 23 percent to $7.7 million. Experts at these centers would help train teachers and other educators in ways to integrate technology into the curriculum.
"Ready to Learn" educational TV programming and related materials by 40 percent -- to $4.3 million.
Leadership funds by 23 percent to $2.3 million. Promising uses of technology would be shared with educators through conferences and other forums, as well as with millions of Americans through Internet. The money would also would be used to develop a long-range strategy for showing teachers and parents ways to use technology in their daily lives.

"The ability to use computers to solve problems, gather information and communicate with others is rapidly becoming essential in the American workplace," Riley said. "American schools must prepare their students for this increasingly complex world, and, as the House Speaker has said, we must bring technology into the classroom."

Summing up the committee's action, Riley said, "The magnitude of these proposed cuts -- at precisely the time that our nation needs to invest in our future -- represents a grave misunderstanding of the direction Americans want for their children and grandchildren. According to many recent polls, Americans realize that education and technological expertise are essential for their children's success in the Information Era.

"Coming on the heels of the attack on the school lunch program, these actions break faith with America's children."