================================================================= ALAWON Volume 7, Number 54 ISSN 1069-7799 May 22, 1998 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (143 lines) SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES URGE NO DELAY, NO REDUCTIONS, IN TELECOM DISCOUNTS ACTION ALERT: MARKUP TO BE RESCHEDULED ON H.R. 3248, THE DOLLARS TO THE CLASSROOM ACT; CALLS STILL NEEDED "EQUITY IN EDUCATION IN THE ELECTRONIC AGE" PROGRAM TO BE HELD AT LC _________________________________________________________________ (NOTE: The following is a joint news release issued today from the National School Boards Association and the American Library Association. For more information, contact Michelle Richards, NSBA, at 703-838-6208 or Lynne Bradley, ALA Washington Office, 202-628-8410) SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES URGE NO DELAY, NO REDUCTIONS, IN TELECOM DISCOUNTS A flurry of ex parte filings with the Federal Communications Commission regarding universal service has raised questions about how the school, library, and rural health discount portion of universal service should be funded. The filings come in response to an FCC request for comments on the funding mechanism. Some consumer groups have suggested that funding for the program be delayed until other unrelated industry changes take place. Anne Bryant, executive director of the National School Boards Association, said "Congress and the FCC should not break their promises at this eleventh hour. Over 30,000 schools and libraries have now applied and gone through an extensive planning process, including developing other local funding to support their part of the bargain. They are counting on these discounts to start on July 1 in order to serve the school children and library users of all ages. Don't pull the plug now!" "Halting or cutting the e-rate program now would be a travesty. This program has been in the works for months. The need has been clearly demonstrated," said Barbara Ford, president of the American Library Association. "The Schools and Libraries Corporation has estimated that 53% of the applications requested discounts of less than $10,000. Some 70% of the applications are for less than $25,000. Schools and libraries are not asking for a free ride. They do need help in making sure that every community has access to critical learning tools. Surely $10,000 or less for over half of all applications is affordable in an industry worth several hundred billion dollars," Ford added. The concerns raised in the consumer filing include the perceived slow pace of competition and other regulatory issues that may impact consumer bills. However, consumer groups have repeatedly stated their support for the e-rate. A recent article in "Consumer Reports" specifically cites the importance of schools and libraries for ensuring that all consumers have access to the Internet. "Regardless of how regulators and policy makers ultimately decide to fund the discounts, the discounts should not be delayed or reduced. Schools and libraries should not be held hostage to other telecommunications policy disputes," NSBA's Bryant concluded. _________________________________________________________________ ACTION ALERT: MARKUP TO BE RESCHEDULED ON H.R. 3248, THE DOLLARS TO THE CLASSROOM ACT; CALLS STILL NEEDED As reported in ALAWON v7, n52, (May 20, 1998), a markup on H.R. 3248, the Dollars to the Classroom Act, was scheduled for May 21 by the House Education and the Workforce Committee. H.R. 3248 was removed from the May 21 agenda; the markup will be rescheduled at a later date. This is an opportunity for library supporters, particularly school library media specialists, to still call their representatives on the House Education and the Workforce Committee (see ALAWON v7, n52, May 20 for the list )to register their opposition to H.R. 3248. If enacted, the Dollars to the Classroom Act would block grant 30 K-12 federal education programs totaling $3.3 billion. Ninety-five percent of the new block grant would be slated for classroom activities and services. This would effectively merge the major programs and eliminate programmatic requirements. ESEA Title VI would become part of this large block of funds. Further, school library media centers may not qualify as "classrooms" under this legislation. _________________________________________________________________ "EQUITY IN EDUCATION IN THE ELECTRONIC AGE" PROGRAM TO BE HELD AT LC On Monday, June 29, 1998 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Library of Congress, Jefferson Building, Room LJ-119, the Educational and Behavioral Sciences Section of ACRL is presenting a program entitled "Equity in Education in the Electronic Age" co-sponsored by the National Library of Education and the ALA Committee on Legislation, Task Force on America Reads. The program will reflect librarians' professional commitment to freedom of access including children's access to technology and critical thinking appropriate to that technology. Naomi Karp, director, National Institute on Early Childhood Development and Education will speak about "Early Childhood - Where Learning Begins"; Carol Rasco, director of the America Reads Challenge and senior advisor to the Secretary of Education will discuss "Meeting the Challenge: the America Reads Challenge!"; and Dr. Carl Smith, director of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English and Communication will tell about "Parents as Tutors--Two Programs that Work". For more information on this and other programs during ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. June 26-30, see http://www.ala.org/events/dc98/index.html _________________________________________________________________ ALAWON is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. To subscribe, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc @ala.org. To unsubscribe, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/ washoff/alawon. Visit our Web site at http://www.alawash.org. ALA Washington Office 202.628.8410 (V) 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, #403 202.628.8419 (F) Washington, DC 20004-1701 800.941.8478 (V) Lynne E. Bradley, Editor Deirdre Herman, Managing Editor Contributors: Carol C. Henderson All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. =================================================================