FCC Will Increase Investment In Broadband For Schools, Libraries by $2 Billion Over 2 Years

UPDATE 3: Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the American Library Association’s Washington Office attended today’s speech by President Obama (video below) and shares her thoughts with a number of excellent points about what he had to say (or didn’t say) in an ALA Washington Office District Dispatch blog post titled, “Mr. President: Where Have Libraries Gone?”
UPDATE 2: Here’s What President Obama Had to Say at Today’s Event

UPDATE 1: White House Blog Post on ConnectEd Initiative
President Obama spoke about tech in schools and the ConnectEd program and announced several partners including O’Reilly Media, Apple, and Microsoft at a school in Adelphi, MD today.
From the Federal Communications Commission:

The Federal Communications Commission announced [yesterday] the agency will invest an additional $2 billion over the next two years to support broadband networks in our nations’ schools and libraries. This represents a doubling of investment in broadband and will connect 20 million students in at least 15,000 schools to high-speed Internet access.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said, “This investment is a down-payment on the goal of 99 percent of America’s students having high-speed Internet connections within five years. As we consider long-term improvements to the program, we will take immediate steps to make existing funds go farther, significantly increasing our investment in high-speed Internet to help connect millions of students to the digital age.”
Funding for new investments in high-speed Internet will come from reprioritizing existing E-Rate funds to focus on high-capacity internetconnectivity, increasing efficiency, and modernizing management of the E-Rate program. “We will take a business-like approach to the management of the program, identifying opportunities to improve the ways funds are deployed and streamlining the process for schools and libraries,” Chairman Wheeler said.

Read the Complete Announcement

Resources

Direct to Schools and Libraries Program/Universal Service Administrative Company Website
See Also: USAC’s Schools and Libraries News Brief (Weekly E-Mail Update)
See Also: E-Rate Twitter Stream

Coverage

• Tech’s ‘down payment’ on school broadband — Crunching numbers on E-rate (via Politico)

• Obama to talk school broadband program (via The Hill)

• F.C.C. Says It Will Double Spending on High-Speed Internet in Schools and Libraries (via NY Times)

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