IP: Kennard Celebrates E-Rate

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 17, 1999
> News Media Contact: David Fiske (202) 418-0513
>
> FCC Chairman Kennard Celebrates the Success of the E-Rate in Connecting Over
> 1 Million Classrooms to the Internet
>
> Washington, D.C. William E. Kennard, chairman of the Federal Communications
> Commission, announced today that over a million classrooms will be connected
> to the Information Superhighway because of the e-rate. "The e- rate is
> working," stated Chairman Kennard, "enabling children in over one million
> classrooms to access a whole new world of knowledge. It is a critical
> investment in the next millennium for our schools, our children, and our
> country."
>
> This week marks the final wave of funding for the second year of the e-rate
> program, established by the bipartisan Snowe-Rockefeller-Exon-Kerrey
> amendment to the Telecom Act of 1996. It provides 20% to 90% discounts on
> telecommunications services, Internet access and internal connections to
> schools and libraries.
>
> This morning Chairman Kennard celebrated the success of the e-rate at a
> roundtable discussion, entitled "Kids & Media @ The New Millennium, hosted
> by the Kaiser Family Foundation in New York
> city. A report on kids and media, released at today's event, highlights the
> importance of the e-rate program. The Kaiser Report states:
>
> "We did uncover evidence that a 'digital divide' does indeed exist that
> young people's access to and use of computers does vary substantially by
> median income of the community in which they live or go to school, and to a
> lesser degree, by race . We believe these data testify to the importance of
> programs designed to make computers available in schools, where slightly
> more minority than white youth use computers on any given day."
>
> The e-rate bridges the digital divide by providing greater discounts for
> poorer and rural schools. This year, 54% of the dollars were provided to
> economically disadvantaged students and library patrons (i.e. schools, or
> libraries near them, where 50% of the students are eligible for the school
> lunch program.) The e-rate thus helps insure that all children including
> those who do not have computers or Internet access at home will have the
> high-tech tools necessary for the new digital economy.
>
> Schools -- both public and private -- and public libraries can now apply for
> the 1999/2000 funding round via the SLD web site:
> (www.sl.universalservice.org).
>
> - FCC -
>
> __________________________________________________
> FREE Email for ALL! Sign up at http://www.mail.com