Nearly three dozen education and technology groups and vendors sent a letter to the Obama administration yesterday urging increased funding for the federal Enhancing Education Through Technology program to “drive innovation and continuous improvement” in public education.
The letter—signed by a diverse group including the Consortium for School Networking, Federation of American Scientists, International Society for Technology in Education, Knowledge Alliance, National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, PBS, and several ed-tech companies—calls for at least $500 million for EETT in the fiscal 2011 budget.
Here’s the bottom line, according to the letter:
We greatly appreciate your recognition of the program's importance to education reform, including your support and enactment of $650 million for EETT in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). However, coupled with a disappointing FY10 investment of only $100 million, the progress being gained through national, state and local leadership in innovation through technology is at-risk of being lost. We cannot afford to lose education reform momentum, and urge you to fund EETT at a minimum of $500 million in your FY11 budget.
A version of this news article first appeared in the Digital Education blog.