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FYI, Forwarded from ALAWON, ALA Washington Office Newsline.
Katy
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Date: Fri, 20 Feb 1998 17:20:07 -0500
From: ALAWASH E-MAIL (ALAWASH E-MAIL) <[log in to unmask]>
To: ALA Washington Office Newsline <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: ALAWON v7, n17 - ACTION ALERT: PRESIDENT'S FY99 BUDGET PROPOSAL
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ALAWON Volume 7, Number 17
ISSN 1069-7799 February 20, 1998
American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
In this issue: (181 lines)
PRESIDENT'S FY99 BUDGET PROPOSAL: ACTION NEEDED
_________________________________________________________________
PRESIDENT'S FY99 BUDGET PROPOSAL: ACTION NEEDED
ACTION NEEDED:
In this second year of funding for the Library Services and
Technology Act, it is particularly important for Congress to fund
library programs at $160 million. A strong investment will
connect more libraries to the Internet, support literacy for
young children and adults, help libraries provide job and
consumer health information, serve small business, and provide
information for lifelong learning.
School and public libraries provide not only up-to-date
materials, but library professionals to teach students
information seeking skills. It is therefore critical to fund
ESEA Title VI at least at the FY98 level of $350 million, since
at least 40 percent of this block grant is spent on school
library and other instructional materials.
Library supporters should contact their Representatives and
Senators about the importance of FY99 funding for these programs.
The U.S. Capitol Switchboard phone number is 202-224-3121. E-mail
also can be effective. For a directory of Congressional e-mail
addresses, consult the Library of Congress web page at
http://lcweb.loc.gov/global/legislative/email.html.
Additional background and analysis of the FY99 budget follows the
table below:
FY99 BUDGET REQUEST FOR FEDERAL LIBRARY AND RELATED PROGRAMS
LIBRARY PROGRAMS FY98 FY98 FY99
(amounts in thousands) Budget Approp.
Budget
Req. Req.
___________________________________________________________________________
GPO Superintendent of Documents 30,477 29,077
30,200
Library of Congress 387,600(1) 376,719(2)
397,002(3)
Library Services and Technology Act 136,370 146,340
146,340
National Agricultural Library 19,000 19,000
20,000
National Commission on
Libraries & Information Science 1,123 1,000
1,000
National Library of Medicine
(includes MLAA) 153,000 161,185
174,725
___________________________________________________________________________
LIBRARY-RELATED PROGRAMS (amounts in thousands)
___________________________________________________________________________
Adult Education and Literacy 394,000 360,551
394,000
ESEA title I,
Education for Disadvantaged 8,077,266 8,012,112
8,480,892
ESEA title I - B,
Even Start 108,000 124,000
114,992
ESEA title II-A,
Eisenhower professional development
(Federal activities) 30,000 23,300
50,000
ESEA title II-B,
Eisenhower professional development
(State grants) 360,000 335,000
335,000
ESEA title III,
Educational Technology 545,035(4) 584,035
721,000
Technology Literacy Challenge Fund 425,000 425,000
475,000
Star Schools - part B 26,000 34,000
34,000
ESEA title VI,
Innovative education program strategies
(State grants) 0 350,000
0
ESEA title X-I,
21st Century Community
Learning Centers 50,000 40,000
200,000
Education of Handicapped Children
(state grants) 3,947,539 4,531,695
4,554,685
Educational Research & Dissemination 134,535 128,567
178,567
Educational Statistics 66,250 59,000
68,000
Educational Assessment 38,373 35,471
40,000
Goals 2000 620,000 491,000
501,000
HEA title III,
Institutional Development 202,071 210,945
252,500
HEA title IV-C,
College Work-Study 857,000 830,000
900,000
HEA title VI,
International Education 60,251 60,351
61,117
HEA title X-A,
Postsecondary Ed. Improvement Fund 18,000 25,200
22,500
Inexpensive Book Distribution (RIF) 12,000 12,000
13,000
Literacy Initiative
(proposed legislation such as
Am. Reads or Reading Excel.) 260,000 210,000
260,000(5)
Museum Grants 26,000 23,280(6)
26,000
NTIA Information Infrastructure Grants
(TIIAP) 36,000 20,000
22,000
National Archives &
Records Administration 206,479 205,167
230,025
National Endowment for the Arts 136,000 98,000
120,500
National Endowment for the Humanities 136,000 110,700
122,000
National Historical Publications
& Records Commission 4,000 5,500
6,000
1 Includes authority to obligate $30.4 million in receipts
2 Includes authority to obligate $30.3 million in receipts
3 Includes authority to obligate $27.67 million in receipts
4 Includes funds for the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund (sec.
3132)
requested under Education Reform for FY 1998
5 Includes $210 million permanent authority from FY98
6 Includes $1 million for joint library/museum projects under LSTA
National Leadership Projects grants.
Compiled by: American Library Association, Washington Office
BACKGROUND:
On February 2 President Clinton's FY99 budget for FY99 was
released (see ALAWON v7, n12, February 4, 1998). The FY99 budget
includes major increases in funding for education programs with
significant attention paid to a variety of new Presidential
initiatives. Those initiatives include: reducing class size and
recruitment of new teachers, improving school facilities
infrastructure, increasing the amounts of Pell Grants, and adding
a $70 million increase to work study grants and technology.
- -- Library program funding for FY99 would be set at $146 million,
the same as appropriations for FY98. Now in its second year, the
Library Services and Technology Act is not authorized at a dollar
amount but rather "such sums" as the Congress determines. An
increase in library program funding to $160 million for FY99
would allow more libraries in every state to connect to the
Internet and support literacy for young children and adults.
According to the ALA/NCLIS 1997 National Survey of U.S. Public
Libraries and the Internet, only nine percent of public libraries
provide World Wide Web access to the public in all branch
libraries. While the "e-rate" discounts will help increase
connections to the Web, libraries must also invest in computers,
content, and competencies.
An increase in funding to $160 million would also help libraries
provide job and consumer health information, serve small business
and provide information for lifelong learning. The U.S.
Department of Education's 1994 National Adult Literacy Survey
found that between 23 and 27 million adults performed at or below
the fifth-grade level in reading and math.
- -- Although no legislation is completed on the subject of
children's literacy, the President's budget adds $50 million to
the $210 million approved in FY98 for a literacy initiative.
However, the budget fails to fund ESEA Title VI, the block grant
which many school libraries depend upon for materials. School
librarians and public librarians are well aware of the need for a
variety of materials to interest young children and students in
reading. Because of strong House leadership and "grassroots"
support, Title VI was funded at $350 million in FY98.
- -- The Administration's continuing emphasis on technology is
reflected in proposed funding for: the Technology Literacy
Challenge Fund at $495 million, Education Technology Part A at
$116 million, and three programs which will require legislation
to be enacted -- Teacher Training in Technology at $75 million,
Community Based Technology Centers at $10 million, and Technology
Leadership Activities at $2 million.
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