Telecom Statement by FCC Chairman William Kennard . This document has been edited for HTML, but not for content. As members of the FCC, sometimes we have the occasion to witness events and even make decisions that will shape the communications revolution for years to come, decisions that will impact how technology can and does affect people's homes, businesses, families, and lives.
Today is one such occasion.
Before the e-rate, only 39 percent of classrooms in poor school districts in rural and urban America had any Internet connections compared to 62 percent of classrooms in wealthier districts. The on-ramps to the Information Superhighway were bypassing the communities that needed access to opportunity the most. After one year, though, we find that the digital divide is narrowing. Because of the e-rate, more than half of the unconnected classrooms will now be linked to the Internet, the bulk of which are found in schools where over half of the students live in poverty. By funding to the cap, we'll be able to wire 528,000 public school classrooms to the Internet.