E-rate victory:   One for the grassroots

Take a bow. It was the support of tens of thousands of schools and libraries across the nation that made a critical difference in preserving and strengthening E-rate, a federal program to help keep even the poorest schools and libraries from being stranded on the Information Superhighway.

Long a target of ultraconservative critics on Capitol Hill and some telecommunications companies, E-rate funding recently won a $1.3 billion increase in the current year that will allow more than 500,000 classrooms to gain access to new telecommunications services. A key to the decision, even critics agree, was the strong interest shown by schools and libraries across the nation in participating in the E-rate program. Federal regulators fielded more than 32,000 applications for E-rate discounts during the program's second year. Also pivotal was political action from the AFT in partnership with other education and civil rights groups, which helped secure strong congressional support for E-rate, and the leadership of FCC chairman William Kennard.

E-rate also prevailed in the courts: In August, the 5th District Court settled a suit charging that the program was an unconstitutional tax levied by federal regulators. The court dismissed those claims and preserved wiring and Internet access as services that schools may receive.

E-rate provides discounts of up to 90 percent on telecommunications services, such as wireless communications, Internet access and internal connections to schools and libraries, with the largest discounts earmarked for institutions serving high-poverty communities. Last year, more than 80,000 schools and libraries participated in the program.

The program frequently had been maligned by critics as "the Gore tax"--a reference to Vice President Al Gore's strong support of the program and his long-stated goal of providing Internet access to every classroom in America. To those critics, Gore repeatedly pointed to E-rate applications as evidence that the program was much more than a special-interest project.

E-rate "has proved to be so popular that even the harshest critics now agree that further complaints are futile," the New York Times recently observed. "Republican opponents clearly misjudged the public's willingness to pay a small amount of money to accomplish what is seen as an important social goal."

American Federation of Teachers, AFL•CIO - 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW - Washington, DC 20001