Revised EETT included in Obama Administration Budget Request
On February 2, the Obama Administration’s 2016 education budget request included $200M for a revised version of the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) grant program. As many of you know, the EETT program launched in 2001 with $675M, funding was reduced in increments over multiple years and was last funded in 2010 for $100M. Although this is a positive step for states and educational technology, the federal budget process is complicated and includes House and Senate appropriations bills that may or may not include this program, budget negotiations and then a final budget. SETDA will work to keep the membership informed regarding this process and share opportunities for states to share successful educational technology programs.
The U.S. Department of Education (ED), Office of Educational Technology’s website includes details regarding potential program revisions. Suggested new appropriations language includes:
- requiring SEAs to award 100 percent of subgrant funds competitively
- targeting subgrant awards to applicants with existing technology capacity, including connectivity and devices
- promoting evidence-based practices
- limiting local spending on hardware
- ensuring that all states are able to reserve sufficient funds to support meaningful state-level activities
Additional details regarding the program request and an overview of proposed changes to the EETT program are available here http://tech.ed.gov/eett. For more information on the full education budget request, review the full press release and ED’s Budget Fact Sheet.
SETDA will share additional information regarding this process as it is available.