E-RATE FUNDING WILL AID RURAL EDUCATION
WASHINGTON, May 20, 1999 --Wally Beyer, administrator of the USDA Rural Utilities Service, today joined Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman William Kennard in support of full funding for the E-rate program, which helps schools and libraries pay for Internet connections and telecommunications services.
The E-rate program was created as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to give schools and libraries discounts for telecommunications services and connections. The FCC is poised to set the funding level for the second full year of the E-rate program.
"Rural schools and libraries have received a tremendous boost from the E–rate, using the discounts it provides to connect classrooms to the Internet and distance learning technologies," Beyer said. "As a result, a new world of information is opening to rural students and others who are no longer disadvantaged by isolation or distance from urban areas."
Nationally, in its first full year of operation, over $369 million in E-rate discounts have gone to America's rural areas. More than 43 percent of funded applications have gone to rural schools and libraries.
"USDA is supporting full funding for the E-rate program to ensure that rural communities in America can become active partners in the Information Age," said Jill Long Thompson, USDA under secretary for rural development. "E-rate funds, along with the Department of Agriculture's Distance Learning and Telemedicine Program, will help American schools meet President Clinton's and Vice President Gore's goal of connecting every classroom to the Internet by the year 2000."
USDA this week also announced the availability of Distance Learning and Telemedicine loans and grants for rural schools and hospitals.
"With the financial support provided by the E-rate, many rural schools and libraries will be able to provide students and others with access to the Information Superhighway, which is rapidly changing the way the world communicates and does business," Long Thompson said. "This helps rural students to be competitive in the job marketplace and makes rural communities attractive places for new businesses to locate."
For more information about the E-rate and USDA's Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant Program, contact (202) 720-1255, or visit the USDA Web site at http://www.usda.gov/rus/dlt/dlml.htm.
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