To be sure, there are some success stories. N.M. This additional LAN bandwidth will also open the door to live videoconferencing at the 120-student residential school, Romero says. And there are some side benefits as well, even for those who aren't getting the money yet. School administrators staunchly defend the rationale behind E-rate, arguing that any discount the carriers provide will be offset in the long run by a technologically aware society in which more people add second phone lines and buy broadband Internet access. But E-rate critics say all that isn't worth an extra tax on corporate and consumer phone bills.
Some critics go even further, questioning the very premise of the program.
He says E-rate should be scrapped entirely. Even most of those who want to keep the program say the process can be considerably quickened and streamlined. The two-part application process involving Forms 470 and 471 can easily be melded into one, says John Schmidt, district treasurer and technology leader for the Schenectady, N.Y., schools. Others suggest that the money should simply be sent back to the states, or the school districts, without any micromanaging of how the money should be spent. Subsidies were instituted that are now being used to pay telephone bills.