Education snags $105.9B in stimulus package

The final $787 billion stimulus bill contains $105.9 billion for education, including $650 million for the federal Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program. Although encouraged by an increase of more than double its current funding level, ed-tech advocates said they were disappointed EETT did not receive the $1 billion it was slated to receive in earlier drafts of the package. In past years, EETT has been repeatedly targeted for cuts. "The funding provides a much-needed down payment toward meeting President Obama's vision that all students receive the benefits of 21st-century learning environments, but the final level of investment falls short of funding in the House and Senate bills, and far short of what is needed by our students to compete in today's digital age," read a statement from the International Society for Technology in Education and the Consortium for School Networking.

The primary goal of the EETT program is to improve student achievement through the use of technology in elementary and secondary schools. Additional goals include helping all students become technologically literate by the end of the eighth grade and, through the integration of technology with both teacher training and curriculum development, establishing research-based instructional methods that can be widely implemented.

Local activities include the support of continuing, sustained professional development programs and public-private partnerships. Activities also include: the use of new or existing technologies to improve academic achievement; the acquisition of curricula that integrate technology and are designed to meet challenging state academic standards; the use of technology to increase parent involvement in schools; and the use of technology to collect, manage, and analyze data to enhance teaching and school improvement.