The Digital Beat Vol. The Future in Jeopardy Action Agenda Additional Reading Data released last week shows that the Nation's commitment to wiring schools and libraries to the Internet by the year 2000 is helping to close the digital divide. But even as the first year of federal funding to support these efforts provides hope for reaching the ambitious goal, some in Congress are backing legislation to terminate that program. Funding for the program comes from fees collected from long distance telecommunications providers who received relief from network access fees at the same time the e-rate was created. The e-rate is a response to the tremendous potential of the Internet as a tool for education and the growing divide of use between schools with primarily disadvantaged and advantaged children.
Students have almost no opportunity to explore the terrain for themselves.
Educators and librarians around the country are reporting on their successful integration of technology into their institutions - and the popularity among users. They can see places that they'd never get to see unless education opens up the door and motivates them - and it is. The system's director, Molly Raphael, said the program brought the Internet to district libraries for the first time. We have a constant waiting line for access. The first year of e-rate funding commitments were made by the Schools and Libraries Division between November 1998 and February 1999.