Raise Your Voice to Win Back
Ed Tech Funding!
Back in July, both the House and Senate appropriations committees provided $100 million for the Enhancing Education Through Technology program, rejecting
President Obama’s budget proposal to eliminate
its funding. EETT is the only federal program
that provides funding to schools for professional
development and technology purchases. In
most cases, the technology tools in U.S. schools
and the professional development provided to
integrate technology into learning and teaching
is in some part paid for through EETT funds.
The final funding decisions for EETT may not
happen until after the November election, and
thus it is imperative to make our voices heard
throughout the early fall.
Here are some ways to get started in advocacy
or increase your advocacy activities.
The first step is to send a letter to Congress
through the Ed Tech Action Network (ETAN)
website ( www.edtechactionnetwork.org). The
site has a letter that you can personalize. With
the click of a button, your letter will be in the
hands of your U.S. senators and representative.
Hosting an ETAN booth at a state conference or other ed tech gathering is a great way to
strengthen our voice. You provide the computers, Internet access, and a couple of volunteers
for the booth, and ISTE will provide you with
materials and training to support your efforts.
The newest component in our advocacy ar-
senal is ISTE’s Advocacy You Tube channel at
www.youtube.com/user/ISTEadvocacy. Check
out the videos created during ISTE 2010 that
highlight the positive effects technology is hav-
ing for our students. Get inspired, shoot a video,
and send it to me to post on the ISTE Advocacy
channel. You can use a script similar to ours,
which include the lines, “My favorite activity
using technology is...” and “The impact of this
activity is...” and then close with “Congress,
please fund education technology.” Include your
name, city, and state. We tag these videos with
specific policy makers’ names so that the video
will come up during an Internet search.
VOICES CARRY
By Hilary Goldmann
Hilary Goldmann,
ISTE’s director of
government affairs, has
20 years of experience
in public policy and
advocacy. She serves as
a volunteer columnist
for L&L.
