Since the E-rate program was established in 1997, the number of public school library media centers (SLMC) with Internet access increased from 14 percent to over 95 percent. While the number SLMC and public libraries that benefitted from the E-rate program has substantially increased, the demand for high-speed Internet access has increased much faster. Recognizing this dilemma, President Barack Obama recently proposed a new initiative, called ConnectED, which will allow the E-rate program to match the increased need for high-speed broadband and wireless Internet access in public libraries and SLMCs. In response, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed a radical revamping of the E-rate program, the first since the program was implemented 16 years ago.
The E-rate program, formally referred to as the Schools and Libraries Program of the Universal Service Fund, raises funds to be used by public libraries and SLMCs to pay for broadband Internet access. The E-rate program was first established in 1997, when only 14 percent of public school classrooms in the United States had Internet access (Wyatt, 2013). Today, the E-rate program provides 2.3 billion dollars of financial assistance to help more than 95 percent of classrooms connect to the Internet (Wyatt, 2013).
News Trigger
My decision to investigate the E-rate program arose from two recent articles on the American Library Association (ALA) Washington Office’s website, District Dispatch: the first reviewed how the federal government shutdown had affected the reply comment deadline for the E-rate program (Wright, 2013d); the second summarized a recent Schools, Health, and Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition seminar, which took place during the shutdown (Wr...
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...r leap forward in E-rate goals; streamlined program. ALAnews. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2013/09/ala-calls-leap-forward-e-rate-goals-streamlined-program
Wright, J. (2013 October 5). Internet in Libraries and Schools is Slow and Outdated. So What’s Next? District Dispatch. Retrieved from http://www.districtdispatch.org/2013/10/internet-libraries-schools-slow-outdated-whats-next/
Wright, J. (2013 October 18). Shutdown aftermath: E-rate filing date postponed. District Dispatch. Retrieved from http://www.districtdispatch.org/2013/10/shutdown-aftermath-e-rate-filing-date-postponed/
Wyatt, E. (2013 July 19). F.C.C. Backs Plan to Update a Fund That Helps Connect Schools to the Internet. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/20/business/media/fcc-backs-plan-to-update-a-fund-that-helps-connect-schools-to-the-internet.html
middle of paper ... ... The Web. The Web. 05 Dec. 2013.
Koppich, Julia E. “Journal Issue: Financing Schools.” The Future of Children. 7.3. (1997). Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
Economides, N. (1998, September 1998). The Telecommunications Act of 1996 and its Impact. Retrieved June 18,2006, from http://raven.stern.nyu.edu/networks/telco96.html
...his online article is an overview of the proposed solution to the school-funding crisis for technology. The Technology Literacy Challenge Fund proposes that they will make it their priority to ensure that every child is "technologically literate" by the 21st century. It goes on to give examples of schools benefiting from TLCF.
Web. The Web. The Web. 07 Mar 2012. Rosenberg, Jennifer.
“Guidelines and Considerations for Developing a Public Library Internet Use Policy.” American Library Association. 2000. American Library Association, Office for Intellectual Freedom. Accessed 1 April 2008. http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/statementspols/otherpolicies/guidelinesconsiderations.cfm
Support public education: critical issues impacting Internet access Net neutrality, open access and interoperability across platforms is very important. Reduced cost of personal training.
“The basic formula for educational spending today is determined by a program called the "foundation program (Kozol 238)". The way that the program works is a local tax based on the value of homes and businesses within a given district raises the initial funds for schools. Then to compensate poorer districts, the state provides sufficient funds to lift the poorer districts to an estimat...
Jaeger, P. I., & Zheng, Y. (2009). One Law with Two Outcomes: Comparing the Implementation of CIPA in Public Libraries and Schools. Information Technology & Libraries, 28(1), 6-14.
...D if the bond package passes. This district, FWISD, is also getting the benefit of Region 11 and their installment of T-1 lines. These should be installed and available in the spring of 1999. Some schools in this district have even now enjoyed the fact that they have internet access in their classrooms and are teaching and using the internet as a tool for other disciplines.
Cable modems have only recently been introduced for private commercial use. Cable modems and the cable data networks they are a integral part of hold the promise of providing a great deal of communications bandwidth for the private user. Greater bandwidth equals greater speed in the realm of the Internet. The Internet has only been around for private use for a relatively short period of time, nonetheless, it has grown quite rapidly. It appears that the Internet will continue to grow at a rapid pace. People will begin to use the Internet for more and more applications. Network...
"It is an exciting time in education. The Internet offers new opportunities for students and teachers a link to learn in interesting ways" (Ellsworth 1994, p. xxiii). "Telecommunications truly is one of the most exciting educational tools I have encountered in my teaching career" (Watson 1994, p. 41). "The Internet's usefulness is limited only by our level of commitment. We first have to get plugged in before we can get turned on. Then we can help our profession by using our imagination to create a vocational educator's Dream Net in the years to come" (Seguin and Seguin 1995, p. 33).
New technologies are allowing us to do things faster, easier, and more efficiently than ever before. Almost every new innovation in technology improves the speed and productivity of any task at hand. Electronic mail (E-mail) is possibly one of the greatest things to happen to the world. Despite this, there are people who find difficulties in using either E-mail or conventional mail. To help decide whether to use E-mail or the United States postal Service, a comparison of each one’s speed, ease of use, reliability, and cost is a helping factor.
Surveying the Digital Future: How the PC and Internet are changing the world. (1999, June). Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Center for Communication Policy.
their dorm room or apartment is sit down at their computer and go online. They proceed to either, read their e-mail, check their online courses for new assignments, or go on one of the many communication websites or programs that are available currently to this generation. None of this would be possible without the readily available Internet access that we often take for granted. The Internet has proven not only useful for entertainment purposes, but has also dramatically changed the educational approach, for both students and educators, and the way knowledge is being obtained.