Jay seeks to extend broadband program
CHARLESTON, W.Va. --More than nine out of 10 public school classrooms have Internet access today, thanks to a little-known piece of federal legislation that has created billions of dollars in computer service discounts since 1998.
In a report released on Capitol Hill Wednesday, the so-called E-rate program is credited with bringing the Internet to countless classrooms and libraries across the country.
Now Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va, is proposing legislation to keep the program exempt from federal budget rules that would severely complicate how it runs.
The E-rate program started as an amendment to the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996. The amendment created a fund -- paid into by providers of telecommunications services -- that provides discounts on Internet access, internal networking and other communications tools for schools and libraries.
Congress has made a series of exemptions for the program from an Office of Management and Budget directive that the federal government cannot commit money to programs unless it has that money in hand. The E-rate program, by its nature, works on forecasts of money being paid into the fund.
With another exemption due to expire this year, Rockefeller wants to permanently exempt the program from the requirement.
The report, prepared by a coalition of education and technology groups, was paid for by several major telecommunications companies, including AT&T,
The report shows that public classrooms with Internet access grew from 14 percent in 1996 to 95 percent in 2005. In addition, more than 90 percent of classrooms in rural, high-minority or low-income districts now have Internet access, up from below 10 percent in 1996.
The program also has provided discounts to more than 2,800 private schools, the report found.
Since 1998, the program has paid for about $18.8 billion worth of discounts on Internet and communications services, according to the report, which was prepared by the Education and Library Networks Coalition and the National Coalition for Technology in Education and Training.
In rural Roane County, the school district has received more than $409,000 in discounts, allowing it to equip every classroom with high-speed Internet connections. At Spencer Middle School, with about 450 students, up to 100 computers can log on at once. Students use them for a range of programs from science experiments to earning high school course credit for online Spanish lessons.
Before the E-rate program, the situation was much different, Principal Bill Chapman said.
"Imagine trying to connect two or three computers at once using dial up," he said. "That's where we were."
The report lists similar success stories from Hawaii to Boston. In Anchorage, Alaska, where the school district has gotten more than $10 million in discounts, teachers draw from thousands of online lessons to tailor classes to each individual student's needs.
"I haven't heard anyone in Congress say they oppose E-rate," Rockefeller said.
David Fish, a spokesman for Verizon -- one of the largest payers -- said the company doesn't oppose Rockefeller's plan.
A spokesman for the Universal Service Administrative Co., which runs the program under the supervision of the Federal Communications Commission, referred questions to members of the company's board, who were not immediately available for comment.
More than 30,000 applications for discounts are filed each year. School and library discounts, which range between 20 percent and 90 percent of total cost, are based on poverty level. The applicants from the lowest-income areas get the largest discounts.
