================================================================= 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. ________________________________________________________________ ALAWON is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. To subscribe, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc @ala.org. To unsubscribe, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/ washoff/alawon. Visit our Web site at http://www.alawash.org. ALA Washington Office 202.628.8410 (V) 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, #403 202.628.8419 (F) Washington, DC 20004-1701 800.941.8478 (V) Lynne E. Bradley, Editor Deirdre Herman, Managing Editor Contributors: Mary Costabile Claudette Tennant All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. =================================================================