Did you wonder how cutting the budget without increasing taxes was going to work? Partly, existing programs will have to go. It appears that the $500 million Enhancing Education Through Technology state block grant program is to be cut (see eSchool News). So if this ends up happening, we now have no PT3 program to prepare teachers to use technology and we have no EETT program to assist schools in supporting technology. We do have “No Child Left Behind” (requiring highly qualified teachers and improved student performance) and we do have the National Technology Plan (expecting improved teacher training, access to broadband, etc.). In other words, we have several unfunded mandates with the most severe consequences for settings with the greatest difficulty in replacing funds at the district level (which of course would simply be a local rather than a federal tax). Seems fair to me 😉
