================================================================= ALAWON Volume 7, Number 68 ISSN 1069-7799 June 12, 1998 American Library Association Washington Office Newsline In this issue: (85 lines) REACTION OF EDLINC MEMBERS TO THE FCC DECISION _________________________________________________________________ Note: Based on advanced reports on the Federal Communications Commission decision on the fate of the e-rate program, the following press release was issued June 12 by the Education and Library Networks Coalition. For more information, contact Michelle Richards, NSBA, at 703-838-6208 or Lynne Bradley, ALA, at 202-628-8410. REACTION OF EDLINC MEMBERS TO THE FCC DECISION We are disappointed that attacks on the e-rate have brought us to this point. The good news is the Federal Communications Commission has addressed the issues made by the program's critics. The bad news is that many school children and library users will be put on hold. "Access delayed is access denied," said Anne Bryant, executive director of the National School Boards Association. "We challenge the CEO of any phone company or any member of Congress who opposes the e-rate to walk into a classroom on Monday to tell the children and the teachers, to their faces, why they can't afford to hook-up their school to the Internet." "We thank the many congressional supporters, the FCC and our grassroots supporters of the e-rate for preserving this program. We cannot let the American public down now; we cannot allow any further cuts or delays to the e-rate," said Carol Henderson, executive director of the American Library Association's Washington Office. "This decision is deeply disappointing, because it says we're willing to leave half our children behind on the journey into the 21st century," said National Education Association President Bob Chase. "We can talk all we want about how much we love our children, but when push came to shove, profits for the telecommunications industry were apparently more important than our kids' futures. In addition, thousands of school districts have already signed contracts and set budgets based on the discounts they were promised. This is going to create chaos in those communities," he added. "State and local education officials have invested considerable resources and worked tremendously hard over the past two years to get this program off the ground and ensure that all students, especially those in poor and rural areas, get access to electronic information services," said Gordon Ambach, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers. The Education and Library Networks Coalition, EdLiNC, is a coalition of 38 organizations supporting the telecommunications discounts for K-12 schools and libraries. The e-rate program currently has over 30,000 completed applications expecting discounts ranging from 20% to 90% on telecommunications services, Internet services, and internal connections. The EdLiNC statements came in response to the FCC's decision to protect all aspects of the program but to cut funding for the program over 40% and to phase-in internal connections for only the poorest schools and libraries first. The EdLiNC coalition will continue to fight along side the strong supporters in the Administration, Congress and many companies, to make sure that the e-rate program is fully implemented. _________________________________________________________________ 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. =================================================================