Education Department Study
Confirms E-rate’s Effectiveness
A report prepared by the Urban Institute for the U.S. Department of Education provides evidence of the effectiveness of the e-rate program of telecommunications discounts for schools and libraries.
The study found that 84% of the nearly $4 billion distributed in the program’s first two years had gone to public schools. This was attributed, in part, to the fact that over three-fourths of all public school districts and schools had submitted applications, compared to half of public libraries and 15% of private schools.
Among the other findings: The poorest school districts received nearly 10 times as much per student as the wealthiest; larger districts and libraries are more likely to apply, and when approved they receive higher per-student funding; and the largest share of funds, 58%, has gone toward internal connections, with 34% used for telecommunications services.
Addressing the Conference on Educational Technology on September 11, the day the study was released, Secretary of Education Richard Riley said the report “confirms that e-rate discounts are helping the schools that need it most. We are indeed successfully closing the digital divide.”
Posted September 18, 2000.
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