On Tuesday, in twin announcements, the president and the Federal Communications Commission put more flesh on the bones of the two-sentence State of the Union promise by President Barack Obama to connect 99% of American students to high-speed broadband over the next four years. In last week’s State of the Union, the president said the FCC, and companies like Apple, Microsoft, Sprint and Verizon would help connect more than 15,000 schools and 20 million students over the next two years "without adding a dime to the deficit." http://techwire.net/chong-following-bread-crumb-trail-president-obamas-state-union-reference-broadband/
Tech and Broadband Providers Commit $750 Million to ConnectED Initiative
Yesterday, the president traveled to Buck Lodge Middle School in Adelphi, Maryland to talk more about his so-called ConnectED initiative, which he intends to pursue with or without the help of Congress. He was accompanied by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. The President said that better access to high-speed broadband will not only improve the teaching and learning experience, but will help American from falling behind in educational technology compared to other foreign countries.
"Only around 30% of our students have true high-speed internet in the classroom," President Obama said in his remarks. "In countries like South Korea, that’s 100 percent, and we shouldn’t give them that kind of competitive advantage over to other countries. . . In a country where we expect free WiFi with our coffee, we should definitely demand it in our schools."
In his speech, the President praised $750 million worth of voluntary commitments made by private companies towards the ConnectED initiative, including Apple, AT&T, Autodesk, Microsoft, O’Reilly Media, Sprint and Verizon. These commitments include iPads, MacBooks, online education tools, wireless services for low income students, discounted Windows operating systems, $100 million in cash and in-kind contributions in current and new initiatives to speed teacher professional development to use technology to boost student achievement in STEM from Verizon.
Missing from the White House list were the incumbent cable operators, the other major wireline broadband providers in the nation besides the incumbent telephone operators like AT&T and Verizon. When contacted, Sena Fitzmaurice, VP Government Communications for Comcast Corp., said "Comcast has been doing more than any other company to get broadband at home for low-income students. We’ve had this [Internet Essentials] commitment for several years."
In a blog posted yesterday, David Cohen, Comcast Executive VP, emphasized the company’s support for "an integrated, always-on digital learning platform – a continuum of connectivity – that begins in the classrooms, follows the child to after-school programs at public libraries, recreation centers, and other community centers, and ends with at-home broadband." He said Internet Essentials is the nation’s largest, most comprehensive broadband adoption program for low income Americans, and that it’s connected over one million low-income Americans to broadband at home, most of them for the first time.
Sheila Dugan is the Marketing and Communication Manager of EveryoneOn, a non-profit organization that runs the national Connect2Compete program. EveryoneOn’s “Connect2Compete” program partners with Internet providers including cable companies other than Comcast, wireless providers like Mobile Beacon (http://www.mobilebeacon.org/ ) and the Mobile Citizenship (http://mobilecitizen.org/) programs, and device refurbishers. It offers options of home Internet service for $10 or less a month and $150 computers for low –income individuals and families. To qualify, students and their families must live in zip codes with a median income of $35,000 or below. Dugan said EveryoneOn will participate in the ConnectED program by partnering with Microsoft.
"We applaud the President’s plan," said Zach Leverenz, CEO of EveryoneOn. "To avoid deepening existing achievement gaps for low-income and minority students, student access to the Internet must extend beyond the confines of the school day. Connected classrooms and at-home Internet access are different legs of the same stool — both are required to leverage the power of technology for student learning."
FCC Adds $2 Billion to E-Rate Program With Focus on High Speed Access, Modernization of Program
Meanwhile in Washington, D.C., Chairman Tom Wheeler announced that the FCC would bring an additional $2 billion over the next two years to support broadband networks in the schools and libraries, which is a doubling of investment in broadband. It will connect 20 million students in at least 15,000 schools to high-speed Internet access. Through the existing E-Rate program established in 1996, funding for the new investments will come from re-prioritizing existing E-Rate funds away from older technologies (read dial-up Internet access) to focus on high-capacity Internet connectivity, increased efficiency, and modernizing management of the E-Rate program. E-Rate provides $2.4 billion to schools and libraries annually for communications services, and has helped connect nearly every U.S. school and library to basic Internet services. The press release says the additional support "will be targeted to address the most urgent Internet upgrade needs of schools and libraries", noting that today, only half of the E-Rate funds go to true high-speed Internet connections.
In the summer of 2013, the FCC launched a proceeding to modernize the E-Rate program. With Chairman Wheeler’s arrival in November, a "top to bottom" review of the program has been ordered. The FCC says it hopes to streamline the application process, increase transparency, and provide more assistance to schools and libraries to help them lower the prices they pay. The FCC says it will increase oversight and enforcement within the program. The Universal Service Administration Company (USAC) administers the E-Rate program under the FCC’s direction, processing applications, confirming eligibility, and reimbursing service providers and eligible schools and libraries for discounted services.
California Impact of ConnectED
All this national attention on the issue of broadband connectivity is music to the ears of Sunne Wright McPeak, the CEO of the California Emerging Technology Fund, a non-profit organization founded by the CPUC in 2006 dedicated to bridging the Digital Divide in California. She recently testified in Washington, D.C. before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet on broadband initiatives that the federal government should take in partnership with the States and local agencies and organizations.
"We applaud the national focus on the critical issue of helping all students thrive in the Digital Age, and nowhere is the need more urgent than in California’s poorest communities," McPeak said. "Learning today takes place 24/7. It is pivotal that ConnectED and E-rate reforms recognize that broadband connectivity alone is not enough to increase academic achievement in California’s poorest neighborhoods, located mostly in urban centers and rural communities. In California, it is very clear that to reach the state’s goal of 80% adoption among California households by 2017 – which is necessary for the FCC to meet National Broadband Plan targets, we need continued bold leadership at the federal and state level to secure an affordable broadband lifeline rate program, coupled with robust digital literacy training."
Over at the California Public Utilities Commission, Terrie Prosper, director of the News and Public Information Office, commented that, akin to the FCC’s review of its E-Rate program, the state agency who watches over broadband in California has initiated an Order Instituting Rulemaking as to the California Teleconnect Fund (CTF) in January of 2013. Begun in October 1996, the CTF program provides a 50% discount on select communications services including Internet service to schools, libraries, hospitals and other non-profit organizations.
According to Prosper, a Staff Proposal was issued last month for comment by the parties to the proceeding which will review the CTF goals, eligible entities who can apply for and receive the CTF discount on telecommunications and Internet services, services eligible for the CTF discount, conditions placed on providers of CTF services, and CTF’s budget, administration and internal controls. She said the CPUC is looking at the recent FCC’s E-Rate announcements and efforts underway by the California Department of Education and California State Library to see if there are additional actions the CPUC can take to help bring the benefits of advanced telecommunications services to qualifying schools, libraries, government and hospital district-owned health care facilities, community colleges, the California Telehealth Network, and community-based organizations in California.
Drilling Down on the ConnectED Initiative
$750 Million in Private Sector and Federal Agency Commitments:
Apple: Pledged $100 million in iPads, MacBooks, and other products along with content and professional development tools to enrich learning in disadvantaged schools.
AT&T: Pledged over $100 million of free mobile broadband access to educational websites, applications and services, and professional development to help middle-school students and their teachers for three years. As part of this commitment, AT&T will provide professional development for teachers to help them take full advantage of mobile broadband service to ease their administrative burdens, easily engage with students and identify new high-quality content.
Autodesk: Pledged to expand its "Design for the Future" program to be available to every secondary school in the country, and make available $250 million of 3D design software, project-based curricula, training and certification to every middle and high school in the U.S. in 2014.
Microsoft: Committed to launch a substantial affordability program ($1 billion in savings) open to all U.S. public schools by deeply discounting the price of its Windows operating system, which will substantially bring down the cost of Windows-based devices for this year. In the past, this program was only available to financial need-based institutions, but now will be made available to every public school in the U.S. This includes hardware, collaboration software, and teacher training resources (Partners in Learning Network), access to the Windows 8.1 devices, and essential software (Windows 8.1 Pro, Office 365 Education) and services (Bing for Schools, an ad free search; Microsoft IT Academy providing student training and resources for fundamental tech skills) necessary to create "immersive, personalized learning environments in today’s classrooms." Microsoft also partners with EveryoneOn, who offers home Internet service for as low as $10 to 36 million low income families and individuals in America, so students can stay connected to teachers and classmates after school.
O’Reilly Media: Partnering the Safari Books Online to make over $100 million in educational content and tools available for free to every school in America.
Sprint: Beginning September 1, 2014, Sprint will begin a four year commitment valued at $100 million to provide free wireless broadband connectivity for 50,000 low income K-12 students across the U.S.
Verizon: Announced a multi-year program to support the ConnectED vision through up to $100 million in cash and in-kind commitments. Verizon Foundation said the program will drive student achievement in STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and math – by helping to change the way teachers teach and students learn.
Federal Communications Commission: Over two years, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler announced $2 billion in the agency’s existing E-Rate program to connect 20 million more students to next generation broadband and wireless beginning in 2014. He also promised to modernize the program’s administration to make it more efficient and transparent.
U.S. Department of Agriculture: Secretary Tom Vilsack announced $16 million in USDA grants for distance learning and telemedicine services to support the ConnectED initiative. The grants will be provided through USDA’s Distance Learning and Telemedicine Loan and Grant program. It provides funding to rural hospitals, clinics, schools and libraries for equipment and technical assistance for telemedicine and distance learning. Grant recipients must demonstrate they serve rural America, prove economic need and provide 15% in matching funds.
