Federal Role Seen Shifting

The leaders who steer federal decisions about technology investments appear to be establishing new priorities.

The leaders who steer federal decisions about technology in America’s schools are facing a fork in the road, and the real possibility exists that the federal government may leave the route it has followed for more than a decade.

And educators who believe digital technologies should play a pervasive and broad role in schools are worried.

In February 2005, the Bush administration asked Congress to wipe out all the money for the major federal grant program that, in several versions over the past decade, has provided nearly a half-billion dollars annually in support of technology in schools. Today, these Title II, Part D grants, which are part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, pay for myriad programs in all the states. In fact, the proposed zeroing-out of the $496 million technology grant fund represents the lion’s share in President Bush’s suggested fiscal 2006 cuts to education, which could be docked by...