ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 10, Number 70 October 4, 2001 In this issue: [1] HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE FINISHES LABOR,HHS EDUCATION APPROPRIATIONS BILL [2] HUMANITIES-BASED AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAM GRANTS AVAILABLE [1] HOUSE SUBCOMMITTEE FINISHES LABOR,HHS EDUCATION APPROPRIATIONS BILL On Wednesday, October 3, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education marked up its FY2002 Labor HHS Education appropriations bill. In general many of the programs funded in education parallel the programs to be reauthorized in the still-to-be completed H.R. 1. Proposed program consolidations are reflected by zero funding in the appropriations bill. Funding for library programs (LSTA) administered through the Institute of Museum and Library Services would be set at the President's request level for FY2002, $168,078,000. Readers will recall that the President's level was achieved by reducing the earmarks from FY2001's level of $207,459,000. The National Commission on Libraries and Information Science would be funded at $1 million, a drop from the FY2001 level of $1.4 million, but better than the zero funding suggested in the President's budget. Many of the education programs to be consolidated in H.R. 1 were reflected by zero funding in the appropriations bill, for example, all the technology programs were consolidated into one state block grant for technology to be funded at $1 billion. Title VI, the block grant that can be used for purchase of school library materials would not be funded but a still-to-be approved category of education block grants would be set at $385 million. The problem is that when the ESEA reauthorization legislation passes, that block grant would include many more choices for spending than the nine allowed in Title VI. Last year's funding for Title VI was the same $385 million. State grants for improving teacher quality would be funded at $3.1 billion. Major increases in education programs totaling $5.2 billion or 18 percent over FY01 were distributed across large state programs like Title I and the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), as well as some of the President's new initiatives still to be approved like the Reading First Initiative which would be funded at his requested level of $900 million. Pell grants would rise to a maximum grant of $4000 per student. Increases in other parts of the massive bill would go to the National Institutes of Health and the Child Care and Development Block Grant, as well as low income heating programs and the Centers for Disease Control. ACTION NEEDED: The full House Appropriations committee will probably vote on the bill either Friday or early next week. Library supporters should remind Senate Subcommittee members that libraries are centerpieces for community information, job searches and technology training and need strong funding to perform those services. Many communities are struggling with revenue shortfalls, business cutbacks and the services provided by libraries can help in these times of crisis. (Senate Switchboard number is: (202-224-3121); or use our web site to send an email at www.capwiz.com/ala/home). Senate Labor HHS Education Appropriations members are: Senator Tom Harkin(D-IA) Chair Arlen Specter, Ranking Minority Member (R-PA) Ernest Hollings (D-SC) Thad Cochran (R-MS) Daniel Inoye (D-HI) Judd Gregg (R-NH) Harry Reid (D-NV) Larry Craig (R-ID) Herbert Kohl (D-WI) Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX) Patty Murray (D-WA) Ted Stevens (R-AK) Mary Landrieu (D-LA) [2] HUMANITIES-BASED AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAM GRANTS AVAILABLE The National Endowment for the Humanities has a special opportunity for Humanities-Based Projects for After-School Programs. The published request for proposals invites applications for the development, multi-site testing, and evaluation of content-rich materials and activities for use in a variety of after-school settings. The goal is to bring exciting humanities subjects and activities into pre-existing after-school programs. Guidelines and application materials are available on the NEH website at http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/afterschool.html. Applications have a receipt deadline of November 1, 2001, and awards will be made in late March 2002. Endowment staff members are available to answer any questions that you may have. Program officers can be reached at publicpgms@neh.gov or 202/606-8269 (Division of Public Programs) and at education@neh.gov or 202/606-8500 (Division of Education Programs). ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. ALA Washington Office, 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite 403, Washington, D.C. 20004-1701; phone: 202.628.8410 or 800.941.8478 toll-free; fax: 202.628.8419; e-mail: alawash@alawash.org; Web site: http://www.ala.org/washoff. Executive Director: Emily Sheketoff. Office of Government Relations: Lynne Bradley, Director; Camille Bowman, Mary Costabile, Don Essex, Miriam Nisbet and Claudette Tennant. Office for Information Technology Policy: Rick Weingarten, Director; Jennifer Hendrix, Carrie Russell. ALAWON Editor: Bernadette Murphy.