AMERICAN PRINTING HOUSE FOR THE BLIND STATEMENT OF TUCK TINSLEY, III, PRESIDENT BUDGET REQUEST Senator HARKIN. Next, we will hear from Dr. Tuck Tinsley, president of the American Printing House for the Blind. As I said, their request is for $6.1 million, level funding from last year. Dr. Tinsley, welcome back. Please proceed. Dr. TINSLEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is a pleasure to appear before your committee this morning. APH PROGRAM DESCRIPTION The American Printing House for the Blind was charted by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1858 for the nonprofit manufacture of books and other materials used by blind persons. In 1879, Congress passed the act to promote the education of the blind, which, as amended, now enables the American Printing House to produce and distribute educational materials for all legally blind students in precollege level programs, in the United States, its territories and possessions. The materials produced by the American Printing House are in four general categories: Textbooks and magazines in braille, large type, and recorded formats; recording and writing equipment; tangible aids for the education of blind students; and special supplies used by blind students and adults served through vocational rehabilitation programs. The educational materials are distributed to programs serving the blind through proportional allotments based upon the number of blind students in each program. An annual census is conducted by the American Printing House for the Blind to identify blind students in each program and allotments are then provided in the form of credits. BUDGET REQUEST FOR THE PRINTING HOUSE The total request for this program for 1992 is $6.136 million, the same as the 1991 appropriation. This amount would provide approximately 35 percent of APH total sales income, the remainder coming from contracts with other Federal agencies, product sales to State and local agencies, and individual purchases. Private donations and investments provide additional revenue. Of the funds requested for fiscal year 1992, $5,579,000 would be used to supply special educational materials to an estimated 49,750 blind students. Additionally, $166,000 would be used for advisory services and $391,000 for educational and technical research. PREPARED STATEMENT APH continues to be committed to meeting the needs of blind students through research, development and provision of educational materials necessary for their growth and development. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Senator HARKIN. Thank you, Dr. Tinsley. [The statement follows:] STATEMENT OF TUCK TINSLEY III, PRESIDENt, American PRINTING HOUSE FOR THE BLIND Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, The American Printing House for the Blind (APH) was chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1858 for the nonprofit manufacture of books and other materials for use by persons who are blind. In 1879, Congress passed the Act to Promote the Education of the Blind which, as amended, now enables APH to produce and distribute educational materials for all legally blind students enrolled in formal educational programs below the college level throughout the United States, its territories, and possessions. These materials include textbooks in braille and large type, educational tools such as braillewriters and microcomputer software and hardware, teaching aids such as educational tests and performance measures, and other special supplies. The educational materials are distributed to programs serving the blind through proportional allotments based on the number of blind students in each program. An annual census is conducted by APH to identify blind students in each program and allotments are provided in the form of credits. The total request for this program for 1992 is $6,136,000, the same as the 1991 appropriation. This amount would provide approximately 35 percent of APH's total sales income, the remainder coming from contracts with other Federal agencies, product sales to State and local agencies, and individual purchases. Private donations and investments provide additional revenue. EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS Of the funds requested for fiscal year 1992, $5,579,000 would be used to supply special educational materials to an estimated 49,750 blind students. This number represents an estimated increase of 1,679 students over fiscal year 1991. ADVISORY SERVICES The 1992 request includes $166,000 for advisory services. The advisory services activity supports two meetings each of the advisory committee on selection of textbooks and the advisory committee on research and development; the annual census of blind students; production of catalogs of educational materials; and field services such as consultation, inservice training, and workshops to inform administrators and teachers about available materials and how they are used. EDUCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL RESEARCH The 1992 request also includes $391,000 for educational and technical research. These funds serve as a base to enable APH to develop needed educational materials in a variety of subject areas including braille reading and writing, low vision training, and microcomputer applications. In 1992, APH will continue to place a priority on the development of special materials for use with multihandicapped blind students and in areas such as early childhood, the functional use of residual vision, educational applications of microcomputers, and prevocational training. GENERAL INFORMATION The American Printing House for the Blind continues to serve a growing number of blind students with complex needs who require a wide variety of educational materials. Public Law 99-457, passed by Congress in 1986, amended the Education of the Handicapped Act, subsequently renamed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, to require early intervention services for infants and toddlers aged birth through two years old with disabilities. Programs initiated in response to this law continue to increase the number of students to be served by APH. In 1992, the American Printing House will continue the development of new materials to serve blind children from birth through preschool. Of the 48,071 legally blind students registered for fiscal year 1991, 39,878 (83 percent) were registered through State departments of education, 4,319 (9 percent) were enrolled in residential schools, 1,309 (3 percent) were enrolled in separate programs for the multihandicapped, and 2,565 (5 percent) were enrolled in rehabilitation programs. Among these students, 5,630 (12 percent) were registered as braille readers, 14,426 (30 percent) as visual readers, 6,399 (13 percent) as auditory readers, 5,426 (11 percent) as prereaders, and 16,190 (34 percent) as nonreaders. Research and development efforts reflect advice from educators and consumers obtained on a national basis. New educational materials and teaching aids are developed and produced each year to keep educational programs current for blind students, with reprints and reruns of older materials produced as required. Additionally, APH uses its own funds to maintain a finished goods inventory of over $3.5 million to ensure timely delivery of special materials to the educational programs, including those funded through the Federal program. Examples of new products released during the past twelve months include the following: 1. Stanford Achievement Test, Form J-braille and large type. 2. APH Scientific Calculator: For Apple II Computers. 3. Read Again: A Braille Program for Adventitiously Blinded Print Readers. 4. Talking Typer-software program to improve keyboarding skills. 5. TEXTALKER-software program permitting voice access to Apple programs. 6. A User's Guide to the APH PocketBraille. 7. Effective Use of Objects: A Process Centered Intervention. 8. Apple II Owner's Manual: Disk Edition. Two significant accomplishments during the past year were the completion of a strategic plan for APH and the development and implementation of a uniform compensation program for nonbargaining unit employees. In addition, APH emphasized its interest in receiving advice from the field by actively involving the following advisory committees: Educational and Research Development, Publications, APHCARL, Microcomputers, and APH-DOTS. In addition, several project consultant and ad hoc committees of direct service providers and consumers were convened. The American Printing House for the Blind continues to be committed to meeting the needs of persons who are blind through the research, development, and provision of educational materials necessary for their growth and development. Mr. Chairman, I will be glad to answer any questions concerning the budget request. BIOGRAPHY OF TUCK TINSLEY III Position: President, American Printing House for the Blind. Birthplace and date: Jenkins, Kentucky, July 30, 1946. Education: Florida State University, B.S.; Florida State University, M.S.; and University of Florida, Ed.D. tucky. EXPERIENCE: 1989-present: President, American Printing House for the Blind, Louisville, Ken1980-89: Principal, Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, St. Augustine, Florida. 1981 (6 months): Interim President, Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, St. Augustine, Florida. 1979-80: Assistant Principal, Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, St. Augustine, Florida. 1978-79: Acting Assistant Principal, Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, St. Augustine, Florida. 1968-79: Mathematics Teacher, Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind, St. Augustine, Florida. Publications: Seventeen professional monographs and articles regarding the blind and visually impaired. HOWARD UNIVERSITY COMMISSION Senator HARKIN. Dr. Jenifer, again I want to extend a special welcome to you since this is your first official time before the subcommittee, although we have had the privilege to talk privately before. You have been president of Howard University for less than a year. The Howard University Commission recently issued a comprehensive evaluation report of the university. Based on that report, you have made recommendations for sweeping reform. I under stand that on March 2, the board of trustees unanimously endorsed those recommendations. Dr. JENIFER. Correct. Senator HARKIN. Again, Dr. Jenifer, I want to commend you for your commitment to this project. I believe we will look back on these days as some of the most significant in Howard's history. HOWARD 2000 PLAN Could you please summarize, just briefly, your recommendations made in that Howard 2000 Plan, or at least the recommendations you think that we are going to have to be paying attention to as we move into our next appropriation cycle? Dr. JENIFER. Certainly. Thank you very much, Senator. In fact, you will recall we talked very early in my tenure here at Howard University about an idea that we agreed on would move Howard University forward in a very rapid fashion. Our intention in this was to try to put Howard University on the very front burner of institutions of higher education in this Nation. We are clearly recognized by all parties as being the premier historically black university in the country, if not the world. However, Howard University has the faculty and the resources to be a major research university. The only thing that stood between us in the achievement of that goal was the will of the faculty and the family of Howard University to come to grips with some very tough problems. It is for that reason that what we wanted to do to make that big jump was to, one, ask our friends for help. Our friends come from Congress, but they also come from our alumni and corporations around this country. But before we could ask anyone for help, we had to help ourselves. The exercise your question relates to was just that. I think it has gotten a lot of national attention because it has been quoted as the boldest step of this nature in the history, or at least the last 20year history, of higher education in the country. What we essentially did was to make a proposition that those things that we could not be world class in or in which we did not have at least the potential of being world class in, we should not do. We should take the funds from those programs and invest them in the programs where we have a high level of quality. ELIMINATION OF PROGRAMS The final recommendation that I made to my board requests the elimination of one major school, the school of human ecology. The school has approximately 600 students. It is as big as many colleges. We are moving some of the programs to other schools and colleges. We think we will get significant efficiency and also improvement in the quality of those programs. In addition to that, we eliminated several programs in the various schools. We eliminated the physicians' assistants program. We merged some of the programs in the school of human ecology with some other programs. We eliminated the undergraduate program in education. We eliminated the undergraduate program in social work. CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE We created two new centers of excellence. One of those centers was international affairs. The other center was urban affairs. We also created an institute in Islamic studies to be housed in the school of divinity. More importantly, I am proud of the creation of a new scholarship program. The new scholarship program recognizes young men and women who come to Howard University with exceptional skills. It gives them a 4-year scholarship. The other program, which we call the Howard Scholars Program, recognizes students who have had 32 credits at Howard University, who have achieved a 3.5 average or above, who have shown through their efforts on the campus the kind of high quality young men and women that they are, and who are prepared for some kind of leadership. We will identify these young people as Howard scholars. We believe, through these programs of excellence, that we are focusing on the significant strengths of Howard. Put quite simply, Howard University has the largest contingent of African-American scholars of any other university in the entire world. We have the largest collection of books on and about AfricanAmericans than any other place in the world. We have the largest collection of art work than any other place in the world. We believe we can bring those rare resources to focus on issues that this Nation is concerned about. Whether they are issues that develop in the Caribbean or in the Third World countries, you will see that Howard University began, once again, to state very clearly that it is a national resource worthy of the kind of support and faith that this committee and the Congress, in general, have provided over the last few years. COST ESTIMATES Senator HARKIN. Dr. Jenifer, I have looked over all of those different recommendations. There are no cost estimates. I am just wondering how soon you may have some cost estimates? Dr. JENIFER. We are hopeful that the next stage of this process is to sit down with each of the groups that has been merged or closed and have some consultation. By the way, we have already been granted a $500,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation for the final implementation stages of the programs. We need to sit down with consultants to work out how these programs will be merged and what the merged programs' faculty-student ratios will be. REDUCTION OF PERSONNEL Once we get a feel for that, and our overall faculty-student ratio is about 1 to 12, we would like to see the institution be about 1 to 15 in most of our programs. Then, we will begin to reduce the size of the personnel through attrition. This will be a very aggressive reduction program, not the typical kind of program that you rhetorically hear people talk about. We have already instituted an Early Out Program, which deals with |