27 AUGUST 2003

NHA-ANNOUNCE UPDATE, 27 Aug 2003

 by John Hammer and Jessica Jones of the National Humanities Alliance

 NEH's WE THE PEOPLE INITIATIVE COMPETES FOR FUNDING

 The "American History and Civics Education Act of 2003" (S. 504), a

 bill reported on in previous NHA-Announce memos, continues to move

 forward at a rapid pace and now appears to be competing directly with

 the National Endowment for the Humanities' (NEH) We the People (WTP)

 initiative. While initially introduced by Senator Lamar Alexander

 (R/TN) as a separately funded program to improve teaching of American

 history and civics -- parallel and complementary to the NEH We the

 People initiative --  S. 504 now threatens to absorb much of the extra

 funding included in both the House and Senate FY-2004 interior

 appropriations bills for NEH's We the People initiative.  President

 Bush's FY-2004 budget request included $25 million in new funding for

 NEH's WTP program.  The House-passed version of the FY-2004 interior

 appropriation includes $15 million for WTP; the parallel Senate

 Appropriations bill (not yet passed) includes $15 million for teaching

 American history and civics with somewhat ambiguous language calling

 for a distribution of funds between NEH's WTP and the Alexander bill.

 Note: although S. 504 passed the Senate last June, the House

 equivalent (H.R. 1078) has not reached the floor of the House.

 BACKGROUND/WTP - Early in his chairmanship at the National Endowment

 for the Humanities, Bruce Cole and his colleagues developed the

 concept of We the People, an initiative aimed at improving the

 teaching of American history to American students on all levels.  The

 initiative came in response to various studies that raised concerns of

 policymakers and, to a certain extent, the general public, about

 students'  knowledge of American history.  The initiative was proposed

 as an overlay on existing programs and required no separate funding.

 In 2002, the White House became interested in WTP, perhaps, in

 retrospect, more for the symbolism that it represents than the

 specific endowment-wide program planned by NEH.  In a September 2002

 Rose Garden ceremony, President Bush announced the initiative, now

 expanded to include the teaching of civics and national service, and

 indicated that he would request additional funds for the initiative in

 the FY-2004 budget to be introduced in February 2003.  Lending his

 prestige to the ceremony, historian David McCullough introduced the

 President.  As promised, "The White House Forum on History, Civics,

 and Service" was held on May 1, during which Mr. Cole spoke about the

 NEH WTP initiative with complementary remarks from John Bridgeland,

 the White House senior staff member responsible for voluntarism, under

 whom the White House initiative as well as the forum was organized.

 (Mr. Bridgeland is President and Director of White House's USA Freedom

 Corps and a member of the Domestic Policy Council).

 The NEH We the People initiative has found strong support within the

 humanities community as an expanded effort within NEH to strengthen

 American history and civics education.  Historians and other scholars,

 teachers, state humanities council leaders, librarians, museums

 professionals, and others support the comprehensive approach of the

 Administration's We the People initiative, since it would fund

 projects to strengthen K-12 education, museum and preservation

 programs, academic research and scholarship, and state council

 outreach to the public.  NHA has argued that this broad approach is

 critical to achieving increased knowledge and awareness of American

 history and civics for students, teachers, parents and Americans at

 all levels of learning throughout the country.

 Examples of programs that would be funded by the NEH We the People

 initiative include:

 o summer seminars and institutes for teachers (a long-standing and

 successful NEH program) with new content focusing on American history

 and civics

 o media projects (television, film and radio projects focusing on key

 people and events in American history)

 o research and preservation projects to preserve and make accessible

 important historical documents and artifacts central to America's

 historic and cultural heritage

 o state council projects that will bring American history and civics

 to underserved communities throughout the U.S.

 BACKGROUND/S. 504 - In February 2003, Senator Alexander introduced S.

 504, a bill to improve the teaching of American history and civics

 that would authorize $25 million in the first year funding, the same

 amount of funding as the Bush budget requested for NEH's WTP.  The

 Alexander initiative closely follows proposals offered in his campaign

 for the GOP presidential nomination in 2000.  On April 10, the Senate

 Committee on Health, Labor, Education, and Pensions (HELP) held a

 hearing on S. 504, chaired by Mr. Alexander.  (Senator Alexander, a

 freshman member of the Senate first elected in 2002, who served as

 Secretary of Education, 1991-93, is fourth ranking majority member of

 the HELP Committee.) David McCullough and Senator Robert Byrd

 testified in support of the bill.  Mr. Cole testified but spoke very

 neutrally because the White House had taken no position on the

 Alexander legislation.  Of considerable consequence was favorable

 testimony and co-sponsorship by Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), the

 ranking minority member of the Appropriations Committee and the

 sponsor of an on-going $100 million program to support the teaching of

 "traditional" history administered by the Department of Education.

 S. 504 would authorize expenditures of $25 million per year for fiscal

 years 2004 to 2007, including $14 million/year to fund up to 12

 locally-based academies for students, and $7 million/year for up to 12

 academies for teachers of American history and civics.  It would also

 authorize $4 million to establish a national alliance of teachers of

 American history and civics.  Identical legislation in the House

 sponsored by Representative Roger Wicker (R-MS) is pending. S. 504 has

 37 co-sponsors, including 20 Democrats.  The House bill (H.R. 1078)

 has at least 220 co-sponsors and Mr. Wicker has continued collecting

 co-sponsors over the summer.

 THE AUTHORIZATION ISSUE - NHA and other supporters of NEH have several

 concerns about the provisions of S. 504 and the precedence it would

 establish within the agency, including: (1) the specific and narrow

 descriptions of the "traditional" history to be taught; (2) given

 scarce resources, the efficiency of funding summer academies for

 students, versus additional academies for teachers, which have a much

 greater multiplier effect in reaching students over several years; and

 (3) the creation of a vaguely-defined private organization funded by

 taxpayers that would seem to duplicate existing organizations.  The

 full text of S. 504 can be found on the Library of Congress web site

 at: <http://thomas.loc.gov/.

 Of broader concern is the fact that this legislation would constitute

 the first authorization (albeit partial) of the NEH in 10 years, a

 major public policy initiative conducted without adequate hearings or

 other opportunity for public debate.

 THE FUNDING ISSUE - Although Alexander is said to have assured NEH in

 March that he would not seek to divert WTP funding, the Senator now is

 pressing for diversion of all or most of the WTP funds to his

 initiative.  Although S. 504 and H.R. 1078 each have impressive

 bipartisan support, NHA has found no evidence that co-signers viewed

 the legislation as an alternative to WTP.  NHA and others assisted in

 a bipartisan "dear colleague" letter in support of NEH and WTP from

 members to the appropriators which produced 47 signatures in the

 Senate, and 137 signatures in the House.  There is considerable

 overlap between signers of the dear colleague letters and cosponsors

 of S. 504 and H.R. 1078.

 It is our understanding that the White House under John Bridgeland's

 leadership is now working with Senator Alexander to reformulate the

 House version of S. 504 to include NEH's WTP.  Given the differences

 between the proposed programs, this must be a considerable challenge.

 The plan, apparently, is to pass the revised legislation in the House

 and then have the Senate recede to the House in conference.  Of great

 concern is that this is on a rapid course which may not provide

 opportunity for public debate or clarification.

 Recently, NHA, in collaboration with the American Association of

 Museums, the Association of American Universities, the Federation of

 State Humanities Councils,  and the National Association of State

 Universities and Land-Grant Colleges sent a letter urging interior

 conference negotiators on the FY-2004 interior appropriations bill "to

 seek an outcome that accommodates the breadth and flexibility of the

 NEH We the People initiative, while also addressing the important

 elements of the proposed Alexander/Wicker legislation."  It also urges

 the conferees to appropriate the full $25 million in additional funds

 requested by the administration, for a total FY-2004 budget of $152

 million.  The letter has been sent to members of the interior

 appropriations subcommittee members of both houses of Congress (the

 conferees on the FY-2004 bill) and other members of congress including

 the authorizing committees.