Copyright 2000 eMediaMillWorks, Inc.
(f/k/a Federal
Document Clearing House, Inc.)
Federal Document Clearing House
Congressional Testimony
March 16, 2000, Thursday
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 3680 words
HEADLINE:
TESTIMONY March 16, 2000 TUCK TINSLEY III PRESIDENT AMERICAN PRINTING
HOUSE FOR THE BLIND HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS
LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION LABOR HHS APPROPS
BODY:
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Statement by Tuck
Tinsley III, Ed.D. President on the Fiscal Year 2001 Request for American
Printing House for the Blind Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: It is a
pleasure for me to present the President's fiscal year 2001 budget request for
the American Printing House for the Blind (APH). In 1879, Congress passed the
Act to Promote the Education of the Blind, which mandates that APH, a nonprofit
agency, produce and distribute specially designed and adapted educational
materials necessary for precollege level blind students to have an equal
opportunity to participate in their educational programs. We believe the
availability of these materials is essential in the States provision of an
appropriate public education to blind students, and thus, serves a Federal
objective by supporting the Federal mandate that all children receive a free
appropriate public education, as required by the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The Act to Promote the Education of
the Blind designates a Board of Ex Officio Trustees, currently 156
professionals, which assures that funding for the Act is used to produce and
distribute specially designed educational materials that are not otherwise
available. The Ex Officio Trustees are composed primarily of representatives of
State departments of education, superintendents of residential schools for the
blind, and directors of instructional materials resource centers. They provide
ongoing State and local input into the identification of the needs of students
who are blind. Approval of the Ex Officio Trustees is necessary for: (a)
research undertaken to identify methods to address students' needs; (b)
development and subsequent field testing of prototype educational aids and
materials designed to address students needs; (c) actual production of the aids
and materials; and (d) follow-up revisions of the aids and materials, as
necessary. By approving the expenditure of appropriated funds only for unique
educational aids and materials designed for blind students, the Ex Officio
Trustees ensure that this program does not duplicate other programs. The total
request for the Act to Promote the Education of the Blind for fiscal year 2001
is $10.265 million, an increase of $165,000 or 1.6 percent over the fiscal year
2000 appropriation. Educational Materials The request for fiscal year 2001
includes $8.302 million to supply special educational materials to an estimated
58,205 legally blind students, an increase of $163,000, or 2 percent over the
fiscal year 2000 funding level for educational materials. We estimate that we
will serve 58,205 students in fiscal year 2001, an increase of 509 students, or
0.9 percent, over the 57,696 students registered for fiscal year 2000. The
resulting per capita allotment for fiscal year 2001 would be $142,63, an
increase of $1.56 or 1.1 percent over the fiscal year 2000 level. These figures
are somewhat lower than those shown for fiscal years 2000 and 2001 in the
congressional justification, which did not reflect the results of APH's fiscal
year 2000 census that was completed in January 2000. These funds are used to
produce and distribute textbooks in braille and large type, tangible teaching
devices, educational tests, and special instructional aids, tools, and materials
adapted for students who are legally blind. While the States are required to
provide a free appropriate public education to all eligible students with
disabilities under IDEA, this appropriation ensures that a minimum level of
materials is made available to the States on an annual basis to assist in the
education of students who are legally blind. Advisory Services The fiscal year
2001 request includes $185,000 for Advisory Services, a $5,000, or 2.8 percent
increase over the fiscal year 2000 funding level. The appropriation for Advisory
Services supports a variety of activities necessary to administer the Act. These
activities include the annual census of blind students; meetings of two advisory
committees, the Educational Research and Publications Advisory Committees; a
required Annual Meeting of Ex Officio Trustees; the production of catalogs of
educational materials produced through the Act; dissemination of monthly
informational bulletins to Ex Officio Trustees; facilitation of 11stservs for
the two advisory committees; ad hoc committees on issues affecting services to
blind students; and field services such as consultation, in-service training,
and workshops. These Advisory Services activities help to ensure that the
research and development undertaken and the special materials produced and
distributed address current and future needs of blind students. The activities
also focus on ensuring that schools and educational personnel are aware of the
materials available and have the knowledge necessary to use them. The request
for Advisory Services also includes funding for the continuation of six special
projects. The number of projects has been consolidated and reconfigured since
the funds were originally requested, so the categories are somewhat different
than those displayed in the Department's Congressional Justification. However,
the activities to be conducted and total funding requested are the same: 1)
$125,000 for the Expert Database Service - This Service is an accessible on line
database of facts, references, and resources vital to students who are blind and
to the administrators of their programs. During fiscal year 1999, the Expert
Database project was initiated, with hardware and speech access software
evaluated and selected. During fiscal year 2000, the focus of the project moved
from software implementation to data collection and management. In fiscal year
2001, data collection will continue with various collection efforts being
evaluated, new workshop designs will be utilized, and further data collection
development strategies will be identified and employed. 2) $95,000 for an
Electronic File Repository-The Repository, which houses braille textbook files
from APH and other braille producing agencies, supports the current national
effort to expedite the provision of braille and publishers files to producers of
alternative media. In fiscal year 2000, quite complex computer programs are
being written to convert publisher files from a variety of formats to formats
that are usable by braille producers. In fiscal year 2001, development of the
Repository collection will continue. Written agreements will be established with
all major textbook publishers and efforts will continue to obtain files from the
publishers and braille producing agencies throughout the States. 3)$100,000 for
the Student-Use initiative for the Louis database -- In fiscal year 2000,
demonstrations and hands-on workshops on the Louis database were presented to
visually impaired and blind students across the country. Through the use of
Louis, students are empowered to identify, locate, and access their educational
materials as needed. Although the initial program targeted students, it also has
been found to be valuable to parents, educators, and administrators, and the
project has been expanded accordingly. In fiscal year 2001, the program will be
expanded to include student access to the Electronic File Repository and the
Expert Database, in addition to the Louis database. 4)
$140,000fortlieNatioiialliistructionalPartnershipinitiative-
Originallyplannedfor fiscal year 2001, this project now will begin in 2000. For
2001, this project will include activities originally planned for the "Field
Based Instructional Modules" initiative. The broadened scope of this project
will expand the number of State and regional APH product training opportunities
and, in turn, increase the expertise of parents and personnel who serve visually
impaired students. 5) $50,000 for the Collaborative Instructional Project with
Teacher Training Programs -- This project, which began in fiscal year 2000,
expands the constituency of users of products and services which will, in turn,
benefit Students and other consumers who are blind and visually impaired. APH
staff will provide instruction in the use of specially designed products and
provide teacher training programs with product loaner kits. Prior to this
project there was little formalized communication and partnership with this
important segment of our field. The results of this project will mutually
benefit APH, university training programs, and visually impaired students. The
APH goal is to dramatically increase the number of people who are knowledgeable
regarding the effective use of products provided through the Act to Promote the
Education of the Blind 6) $115,000 for the Product Information and Training
Materials initiative - This project, originally requested for fiscal year 200 1,
will begin in 2000. For 200 1, this project will be expanded to include the
"Surveying and Partnering-with Consumers" initiative. The goals of this expanded
project are: 1) to diversify the methods and media used to disseminate
appropriate APH product and training materials and 2) to improve products and
services to meet the evolving needs of blind students through periodic surveys
of the field for adaptable commercial products, systematic analyses of available
market information, and the development and implementation of customer
satisfaction strategies through an ongoing "Voice of the Customer" process.
Educational and Technical Research Educational and technical research funds are
used by APH to conduct a program of comprehensive research directed toward
achieving its mission of providing visually impaired individuals with special
media, tools, and materials needed for education and life. The request for
educational and technical research is $515,000, an increase of $15,000 over the
2000 appropriation. Due to the increase in funding for fiscal year 2000, we were
able to begin three projects that were originally scheduled for fiscal year
2001. Six projects, including these three, will be in continuation status in
2001. In addition, the request also includes funds for a major new initiative.
The six continuation projects and new initiative are as follows: 1) $17,000 for
Primary Grade Storybooks that Introduce Tactile Graphics -- Begun in 2000, this
project will develop storybooks for kindergarten through second grade students
which feature braille text accompanied by simple tactile displays introducing
line tracking, use of tactile symbols, and symbol keys. This initiative focuses
on two major obstacles for students who are blind: lack of exposure to tactile
displays and lack of a sequence of instruction preparing students to use tactile
graphics. 2)$61,000 for continuation of Optical Aids and Curricula Training Kits
-- This project addresses the needs of children with low vision who require more
than large print to get the full benefit of their educational programs. The
Optical Aids Training Kit for Distance Viewing will be completed in fiscal year
2000, and the Optical Aids Training Kit for Near Viewing will be developed in
2001. 3)$77,000 for continuation of the development of Textbook File Conversion
Software -- Begun in 2000, this project is focusing on two main objectives: (1)
creating software to convert publishers' files into a consistent format and (2)
developing software to allow the visually impaired user to read books prepared
from these files in a variety of options including hard copy braille,
refreshable braille, synthesized speech, digitized speech, hard copy large
print, and large print viewed on a monitor. 4) $120,000 for continuation of
Braille Literacy for Older Students -- Begun in 2000, this project is developing
braille materials to introduce older blind students to the Grade 2 Literary
Braille Code and introduce and strengthen necessary skills required for reading
and writing literacy. 5) $110,000 for continuation of the development of au
Inexpensive Refreshable Braille Display -- Begun in 2000, this initiative will
identify alternate technologies to use in creating a reliable, inexpensive
refreshable braille display for students to use in reading their textbooks. 6)
$64,000 for continuation of the development of a Point of Reference Aid -- Begun
in 2000, this project will develop an aid to help totally blind students and
adults maintain their sense of direction. The aid will be a small, simple,
inexpensive device with only two controls. One will be used to set the direction
the user wants to recall, and the other will be used to recall the direction
that has been set. 7) $189,000 for a new initiative to develop an Interactive
Tactile Display -- The goal of this project is the development of a device to
display graphics from textbooks in a tactile format. The use of graphics is an
essential part of education. Providing a tool to enable blind students to take
advantage of graphical representations will benefit them greatly in their
educational endeavors. In providing needed materials for a very low incidence
population, the Act is structured and administered to maximize Federal IT
sources in the service of local needs. Needs are identified at the local level,
experts in the field who serve as project consultants and evaluators are
identified, and research is conducted to identify the most effective methods of
addressing the needs. Subsequently, prototype aids/materials are developed and
teaching materials from the field are evaluated for potential usefulness,
extensive pilot and field testing are conducted, and product review and
revision, if necessary, are completed periodically. The American Printing
1-101-1se for the Blind continues to be committed to meeting the needs of
students who are blind through the research, development, and provision of
unique educational materials necessary for them to have an equity opportunity to
benefit from their educational programs. The Act to Promote the Education of the
Blind is a program that works. The key is continuous input from direct service
providers at the State and local levels, with all the obvious benefits of grass
roots involvement. Mr. Chairman, I will be glad to answer any questions
concerning the fiscal year 2001 budget request.
LOAD-DATE: March 22, 2000, Wednesday