Education and Research Overseas (Special Foreign Currency Program) 2. Education activities overseas Purpose and Method of Operation--continued This program is administered through discretionary grants, contracts, and fellowships. Funds are obligated in one fiscal year for the support of projects carried out during that and succeeding fiscal years. Grants and fellowships are awarded in a single, national competition along with the International Education and Foreign Language Studies (IEFLS) Overseas programs (Fulbright-Hays programs) which support many of the same activities. [See Higher Education account.] A portion of each year's expenditures has been to reimburse bi-national commissions and U.S. embassies for professional and administrative support they have provided for projects and individuals funded under these programs. Services have included reviewing project proposals for feasibility, political sensitivity, and cost estimates and providing assistance to grantees in obtaining local research permits and visas. Accomplishments During the past two decades, support has been provided for overseas research, training, and other education activities for American students, teachers, and scholars in Burma, Egypt, India, Israel, Morocco, Pakistan, Poland, Tunisia, and Yugoslavia. 1986 Budget Proposal For Education Activities Overseas, no funds are requested. It is anticipated that any remaining unobligated funds at the end of 1985 will be returned to the Treasury and no further Education Activities Overseas projects will be supported with excess foreign currencies. Over the years, excess foreign currencies have been used to support study and research opportunities in India, Pakistan, and several other countries. Because of the rapidly diminishing availability of excess currencies, however, no request for new funds is being made for 1986. 1/ This total excludes $142,100 in obligations incurred in 1984 for activities carried out by the U.S. Information Agency in 1983. WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 1985. NATIONAL TECHNICAL INSTITUTE FOR THE DEAF WITNESSES WILLIAM E. CASTLE, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL TECHNICAL INSTITUTE FOR THE DEAF; AND VICE PRESIDENT, ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY WENDELL S. THOMPSON, ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL TECHNICAL INSTITUTE FOR THE DEAF; AND VICE PRESIDENT, ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SALLY H. CHRISTENSEN, DIRECTOR, BUDGET SERVICE, OFFICE OF PLANNING, BUDGET AND EVALUATION, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION THOMAS P. SKELLY, DIRECTOR, BUDGET SYSTEMS DIVISION, OFFICE OF PLANNING, BUDGET AND EVALUATION, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Mr. NATCHER. We take up next the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. We have before the committee at this time Dr. William E. Castle, the Director. You have been here almost as often as Mr. Conte and I have. Dr. CASTLE. Just about that. Mr. NATCHER. Who do you have there at the table with you? Dr. CASTLE. I am happy to submit my opening statement for the record and introduce it in this way. We are presenting today the President's request for an appropriation of $30,080,000 for fiscal year 1986 for the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. Consistent with the administration's freeze-plus strategy, this does not take into account the effects of inflation, and, in fact, is $1,320,000 less than the $31.4 million appropriated for NTID in fiscal year 1985. The President's budget will allow us to serve approximately 1,200 deaf students rather than the 1,320 we are now serving and originally planned to serve in fiscal year 1986. The President's budget will also allow us to carry out our other important mandates of research, information dissemination and training at levels commensurate with the President's request, but not at current levels. [The statement of Dr. Castle follows:] (1623) Statement by the Director of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: I am pleased to present the fiscal year 1986 request for the National Technical Institute for the Deaf on behalf of the Department of Education. As you know, the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at the Rochester Institute of Technology (NTID at RIT) was created by Congress to provide postsecondary technical education for the Nation's young deaf people to prepare them for successful employment. We are also involved in training professional staff to serve the Nation's deaf population and are conducting research into educational achievement, communications, personal/ social instruction, economic and employment aspects of deafness. The 1986 request for the National Technical Institute for the Deaf is $30,080,000. This includes an increase of $80,000 for rubella related costs. The specifics of the fiscal year 1986 request follow: Operations The fiscal year 1986 request for operations is $30,080,000. Of this amount $28,290,000 is for the base programs and $1,790,000 is for costs of educating the students associated with the rubella epidemic of 1963-65. This request would freeze the level of the base program and include an increase from fiscal year 1985 of $80,000 for the cost of rubella-related operations. It would support academic programs in the areas of career development, research, training, and information dissemination. The rubella epidemic of 1963-1965 doubled the incidence of babies born deaf throughout the United States during that period. Those children are now 19 to 21 years old and are applying to or attending postsecondary institutions in record numbers. This past year NTID received 998 applications and had a fall 1984 entering class of 489, which is 150 more than in a "typical year". Projections for the fall of 1985 (fiscal year 1986) indicate that NTID will receive over 800 applications and that the number qualified to enter will be 560. At the requested level of funding, NTID will admit 270 new students, 70 less than would "normally" be admitted, bringing the total enrollment to 1,175. The number of students admitted at the requested level is strongly influenced by NTID's salary policy for 1986. Under the terms of the agreement between the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), NTID's host institution, and the Federal Government, NTID is required to follow RIT policies and practices. RIT is planning a three percent salary increase and a one percent fringe benefit increase for a total of $650,000 for 1986. To finance these and other increases, offsetting reductions will be taken which will affect the number of students that can be enrolled. |