VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

Advocacy

Critical Action Needed: National Days of Action for Federal Funding

by

Part of VSTE's mission is to advocate for education and technology. We are reaching out today to let you know that action and advocacy is critical right now. The Senate Appropriations Committee will be making funding decisions on two programs we care about - Title II-A and Title IV-A - the week of September 7. As you may have heard, the House Appropriations Committee has already voted to eliminate all funding ($2 billion) for Title II-A, which provides states and districts money for effective professional development, and a small increase for Title IV-A, the new block grant that supports education technology. Much is riding on what the Senate decides.

Join the National Thunderclaps: A Thunderclap is a social media tool to amplify a message. To participate in an ISTE-supported Thunderclap, go to the URLs below and use your Twitter or Facebook account to sign up. On both National Days of Action, the tool will post an identical message in support of funding for these programs to all of the supporters' accounts, amplifying our message to all of their followers and friends.

Join the Title II Thunderclap here.

Join the Title IV Thunderclap here.

Title II-A Day of Action - August 29, 2017: Title II-A of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides ongoing professional development for teachers and school leaders, including professional development for the effective use of technology. Many ISTE members also use these funds to attend our conference. Unfortunately, both the president and the House of Representatives called for a complete elimination of this funding and it's up to the Senate to restore funding to at least last year's level.

Title IV-A Day of Action - August 31, 2017: Title IV-A of ESSA houses the education technology provisions of the law and is meant to support the effective use of technology, investments in infrastructure and access to digital learning in the classroom and at home. Unfortunately, in its first year of funding, Congress only dedicated $400 million (less than 25 percent of its authorized level) to the program - meaning many districts will receive very little funding to invest in these areas. The House of Representatives included $500 million for the program and it's critical that the Senate hears our support for this program.

Now is the time to raise our voices in support of these programs. ISTE will send an email on the morning of each event with details about other actions you can take throughout the day, so please consider joining the ISTE Advocacy Network. VSTE will post announcements across their social media networks as well. ISTE and VSTE strongly urge you to take action and participate in this important advocacy work! 

National Day of Action for Education

by

Join CoSN, ISTE, and SETDA on May 11, 2017, for a national Day of Action to advocate for the policies that could significantly impact educators, their schools and the students they serve.

What You Can Do on May 11th

On May 11th, we ask that you please join educators and advocates all across the nation by taking one (or all) of the following extremely critical actions:

1. Send a prewritten letter to Congress

Use our easy advocacy tool to send this pre-written letter to Congress about the effectiveness of E-Rate and the Title IV, A block grant, which houses the ed tech provisions in ESSA.

2. Tweet #ERateWorks, #MoreTitleIV, #Act4EdTech

Here are some sample tweets you can use:

  • Millions of students are connected to the internet at school because #ErateWorks @AjitPaiFCC
  • Personalized and digital learning is possible in schools because #ErateWorks to provide broadband in classrooms @AjitPaiFCC
  • Give schools the funding to provide Students with a well-rounded education @[Congressperson] #Act4EdTech #MoreTitleIV
  • Every school benefits from #edtech funding @[Congressperson] #Act4EdTech #MoreTitleIV

3. Call your members in Congress!

Unsure who your Representative is? – Visit the Find Your Representative tool. Unsure what to say? - Here is a script you can use when speaking to staff member of the office.

  • I am a [insert title and organizational affiliation] and I am calling to urge Senator/Representative [insert name here] to support full funding of the Student Support and Academic Enrichment grant program under Title IV, Part A of the Every Student Succeeds Act. Congress authorized Title IV Part A of ESSA at $1.65 Billion to ensure that each school district received funds to support access to a well-rounded education, improve student’s physical and mental health and improve conditions for learning, and to increase the effective use of technology. Unfortunately, the current appropriation bill falls far short of full funding.
  • There is a wealth of evidence that supports the needs for students to have access to a diverse academic curriculum that includes science, arts, foreign language and civic education; programs that support students physical, mental, and behavioral health, and the improve school safety; and modern, classroom based technology. All of these areas are critical to ensure all students graduate from high school ready to enter.
  • ESSA consolidated most of the programs that support student health and safety, well rounded academics and education technology into this new flexible block grant.  Without a significant investment in Title IV Part A, districts will be faced with the unnecessarily difficult decision of choosing which area to invest in. Full funding of Title IV Part A will ensure that each district is provided funds to invest in each of these critical areas.
  • I urge Senator/Representative [insert name] to support the full funding if Title IV Part A.

We hope you can join us on May 11th to support edtech policies!

Federal Budget Threatens to Starve Education

by

From the ISTE Advocacy Network:

On March 16, 2017, The White House released the President's proposed "Skinny Budget" for FY18, a streamlined blueprint for next year's budget that does not contain much detail about specific changes. What is clear from this Skinny Budget is that the President is attempting to make good on his previously announced plans to shift $54 billion in domestic discretionary funding to defense spending and that the Department of Education would be one of the federal agencies that would suffer significant funding losses as a result. For education, the Skinny Budget proposes to cut $9 billion in funding, which it represents as a 13.5 percent decrease, below the current FY 17 levels.  While the Skinny Budget is silent on the ISTE-supported Title IV, Part A flexible block grant program, which would provide districts with funding for educational technology, it remains possible that the Administration will seek low or no funding for this program as the funding process plays out. While it is ultimately up to Congress to dispose of the President's proposals through the appropriations process and some Republican members have expressed skepticism about the President's proposals already, some significant education cuts are likely in the end.

If the Department of Education's overall funding level of $59 billion becomes law, it will take federal education support back to approximately FY08 levels. In his budget proposal,the President attains the majority of his cuts through eliminating: the $2.25 billion Supporting Effective Instruction State Grants Program, a block grant that school districts use to hire and train teachers and administrators; the $1.2 billion 21stCentury Community Learning Centers program, which provides funding for after school and summer programs; the $732 million Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity program, a higher education need-based aid program; and the $3.9 billion Pell Grant surplus. The Skinny Budget also indicates that more than 20 other programs would be eliminated, including the Striving Readers, Teacher Quality Partnership, Impact Aid Support Payments for Federal Property, and International Education programs. The budget would protect IDEA, funding it at the same level as last year, and increase Title I funding but with a school choice twist.

The central aim of the President's education funding proposals is to begin to shift a significant share of federal dollars towards supporting his goal of providing parents and students greater school choice. The Skinny Budget would accomplish this in three ways:

  • adding $168 million to the existing Charter Schools Grant program;
  • establishing a new private school choice program (no details provided) and funding it at $250 million; and
  • increasing Title I by $1 billion but allowing those funds to move with students to public schools of their choice.

This last move, known as Title I portability, was the subject of intense debate during the recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act but Congress did not incorporate the concept into the final Every Student Succeeds Act.

Now is the time to get involved and let your Congressional representative know that you support public education. Not sure who represents you? Start here.

To keep up to date with the budget and other issues, join the ISTE Advocacy Network.

Position Statement Regarding the Nomination of Secretary of Education

by

a blue apple with a green leaf and brown stemThe Board of Directors of the Virginia Society for Technology in Education has issued a statement regarding the nomination of Secretary of Education. The statement includes the Board's beliefs regarding the essential qualifications of any Secretary of Education.

Position Statement Regarding the Nomination of Secretary of Education
Virginia Society for Technology in Education
Board of Directors

We, the Board of Directors of the Virginia Society for Technology in Education, explicitly thank Senator Tim Kaine (D) and Senator Mark Warner (D) for their statements of January 25, 2017 and January 31, 2017, respectively, in which they addressed the appropriate and necessary qualifications for a United States Secretary of Education.

As Senator Kaine said in his statement, three qualifications are essential in any Secretary of Education.

Firstly, an appropriate candidate for Secretary of Education must have a strong track record of being “pro-public schools.” Such a candidate should ideally have been a public school teacher and a public school administrator, and must have demonstrated instructional leadership, educational leadership efficacy, and a consistent and unquestionable support of the importance of quality public schools in every community in America.

Secondly, an appropriate candidate for Secretary of Education must have a strong track record of being “pro-accountability.” Such a candidate should have strong data analysis skills, a robust understanding of assessment philosophy and practices, and be well-versed in current issues facing the education profession regarding curriculum, standards, and the evaluation and reporting of individual student skill mastery.

Thirdly, an appropriate candidate for Secretary of Education must have a clear, abiding commitment to civil rights. Every single student in the United States of America is innately deserving of dignity, personal identity, and equal protection under law. An appropriate Secretary of Education must have special concern, and ideally a strong track record, when it comes to protecting and empowering students with disabilities, students in at-risk categories such as those based on socioeconomic status, and students facing mistreatment.

Our Secretary of Education must be a strong advocate for every child in America, must have a track records as a “champion” for public schools, and must demonstrate an unflagging ability to conceive, articulate, and implement policies that will support both children and public schools without undue private or ideological influence.

As the elected leaders of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s chief educational technology advocacy organization, and as experts in the field of education, the Virginia Society for Technology in Education believes it critical that educational leaders have clearly-expressed, consistently-held commitments to all students in all schools, most especially public schools, and who do not advocate for the wholesale privatization of public education.

We applaud Senators Kaine and Warner for their positions on the post of Secretary of Education, and support their advocating for an appropriate candidate in this and any nominee confirmation process.

Undersigned,
On behalf of the Board of Directors,

 

 

Chairperson
Board of Directors
Virginia Society for Technology in Education

PDF Version of Full Statement: VSTE Statement on Secretary of Education Nomination.

Gear Up for Advocacy

by

Keith David Reeves

Members of the VSTE Board of Directors will be taking time to periodically share their ideas and passions with the VSTE membership. In this edition, Board Chair Keith Reeves challenges us to become advocates for quality public education, especially in the area of virtual education.

Happy New Year to each and every one of you, my friends and colleagues in education here in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Thank you for helping to make our annual conference this year a marvelous success. About 1,200 of you joined me, Dr. Richardson, the Board of Directors, and our exceptionally-talented Conference Committee in Virginia Beach to raise our voices, our awareness, and our skill levels.

As we gear up for the second half of the year, I’d like us to re-spark our interest in paying attention not only to our kids and families in our respective schools, but to the “thirty thousand foot view” of Virginia education. I’d like you to take a moment, in your drive or workout or stroll to the store, to think of what you’d say if you had just a quick opportunity to say something to your local elected officials about educational technology.

If you stepped onto an elevator with your Delegate, what would you say about ed tech?

I think I’d play the role of the “Ghost of House Bills Past” and mention HB8, the failed legislation effort of the past two years that sought to back-door privatization in Virginia’s schools by putting K12, Inc. in control of a mandatory virtual school option in every school system in the Commonwealth. Governor McAuliffe clearly understood this privatization effort, and vetoed the bill in early April 2016. (You may recall that VSTE was ardently against this bill, as we articulated in our February 2016 statement, and I made sure as Chairperson of the Board to be significantly vocal on the subject.)

Why mention it? Because it’s coming back.

Many people hear “K-12” and think we’re only ever referring to “kindergarten through twelfth grade,” but K-12, Incorporated is a for-profit corporation, not an age range. This perilous conflation may lead many to misunderstand the intent of legislation, and we have a role to play in raising our voices in clarity.

The reason VSTE and I stood against HB8 was simple: It put a state-level mandate on schools that put the power in a single corporation’s pocket, siphoning local funding away to fuel the fires of this new private engine.

According to sources who say they have spoken with him, Representative Dickie Bell (R) apparently intends to reintroduce a version of HB8 this year, as a competing measure against Governor Terry McAuliffe’s (D) intended legislation, which would put a local-level mandate on schools and give them choice in how they implement virtual learning. Students who attend such programs have been shown in recent data analysis to underperform students who have the fuller advantages of the ever-more-personalized learning opportunities you, the talented and skilled educators of Virginia, provide in your local schools. While there are places where the Virtual Virginia pilot has been going well, we believe it most appropriate to allow local schools to evaluate programs and to mount pilots consistent with their needs and priorities, rather than create a law that all but guarantees sole-source contracting as the defeated HB8 did.

Let’s be clear about this: It is one thing to say “we want students to have the opportunity to learn online.” It is entirely another thing to say “And a sole-source corporate provider will be that option.” It is important for local school divisions to be able to select innovative, meaningful, and most importantly not-for-profit educational methods to ensure student learning is not commodified. The introduction of market principles into educational policy craft is a mistake, as I write about in my work, and we must take extraordinary care to ensure that we don’t see another back-door attempt to privatize Virginia’s public schools pass muster in the guise of providing good online learning.

Virtual education can do remarkable things for students when done right, such as the extension of supplemental counselor-assisted asynchronous high school instruction in Loudoun County, and the schools of Virginia need such professional educators making pedagogical decisions, not imposed structures of corporate influence.

It is my hope that we educational technology leaders can raise our collective voices to make the clear distinction to our legislators, whenever and wherever we can: Yes to innovative learning opportunities. No to corporatizing public education.

In the coming months, I issue to you the same charge then-Vice Chairperson Karen Streeter offered to you from the dais at the 2016 Conference in December: Find time to engage with your elected officials. Encourage them to scrutinize any bill that says “virtual” on it, and offer to engage with them on the subject. Lend your voice. Lend your ideas. Lend your assistance, so that our students are well-represented and have the opportunity to learn from excellent local professional teachers using locally-selected online materials that best serve the needs of your community. A state-level one-size-fits-all mandate that hands the reins of curricular and implementation powers to for-profit enterprises would jeopardize the state of education in the Commonwealth, and that is a misstep we simply cannot afford.

On behalf of your Board of Directors, thank you for your continued support of quality educational opportunities for our students, and of the mission of your Virginia Society for Technology in Education.