E-Rate, the federal program that provides schools and public libraries with $2.25 billion annually in deep discounts on telecom and Internet access services and internal connections, is celebrating its 10th birthday. A new report released this week demonstrates that E-Rate plays an important role in improving students’ grades, training teachers, and providing all community members with the technology skills and knowledge necessary to compete successfully in the global economy. Cox Communications believes strongly in the value of E-Rate and was one of the chief corporate sponsors of the report, "E-Rate: 10 Years of Connecting Kids and Community." It was developed by the Education and Libraries Networks Coalition and the National Coalition for Technology in Education and Training.

We are proud of the strong school and library partnerships that we’ve forged through our participation in E-Rate. For Cox, though, the most telling statistics about the program do not involve the amount of money committed through it (more than $19 billion to date), but the fact that it has raised classroom connectivity rates above 90% for all schools -- rich or poor; rural, urban or suburban; high minority or low minority population. As the Chief Technology Officer of Nevada’s Clark County School District, which is profiled in the report, concludes: "The district wide network (which is supported by the E-Rate) creates an element of equity..."

While these numbers and anecdotes might suggest E-Rate has successfully completed its mission, this report demonstrates otherwise. In virtually every one of the 10 communities profiled, the combination of increasing demand for existing online educational services and expected new educational services will spur the need for more E-Rate-supported bandwidth. Cox stands ready to meet these needs over the next decade of the E-Rate's future.

As part of Capitol Hill celebration of E-Rate this week, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) said he is proposing legislation to permanently exempt E-Rate from federal budget rules that hamper its operations and ability to fully serve schools and libraries. From the AP: “Congress has made a series of exemptions for the program from an Office of Management and Budget directive that the federal government cannot commit money to programs unless it has that money in hand. The E-rate program, by its nature, works on forecasts of money being paid into the fund. With another exemption due to expire this year, Rockefeller wants to permanently exempt the program from the requirement.” [Click here for the full article.]