Back to school for Congress

BACK TO SCHOOL FOR CONGRESS
[SOURCE: eSchool News]
As House and Senate lawmakers return to Washington next month to reconvene the 109th Congress after their summer recess, the legislative agenda features several bills likely to affect how technology is used in schools. Among the measures currently on Congress's to-do list before year's end are the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) of 2006, a controversial proposal intended to better protect children from the potential hazards of social-networking web sites such as MySpace.com; the most significant overhaul of telecommunications legislation in a decade, which has ramifications for the $2.25 billion-a-year eRate; and closure on the 2007 federal budget, which will decide the fate of the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) block-grant program and other school-related spending. One of the first bills likely to be revisited this fall in the Senate, DOPA (H.R. 5319) was under review by the Senate Commerce Committee when lawmakers broke in August. DOPA appeared on the fast track to approval before the congressional recess; the House approved it 410 to 15. Despite its quick and nearly unanimous approval in the House, however, the legislation drafted by Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-PA) has run into steep opposition from several ed-tech proponents. Its critics say the bill--which requires schools to block access to social-networking web sites as a prerequisite to receiving valuable eRate discounts--is overly broad, redundant, and likely would prohibit educators from fully embracing the Internet as a tool for teaching and learning. The proposal would force any school or library that receives government funding to block access to any web site that "allows users to create web pages or profiles that provide information about themselves and are available to other users, and offers a mechanism for communication with other users, such as a forum, chat room, eMail, or instant messenger." The rules would apply to all U.S. schools and libraries that receive funding through the eRate, the massive federal program that provides Internet and telecommunications discounts to needy schools. The bill also seeks to limit access to personal networking web sites to people who are 18 or older.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/showstoryts.cfm?Articleid=6523