Study Cites E-Rate's Inadequacies

The E-rate program is underfunded and should remain under the jurisdiction of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says a new study released in November by the Benton Foundation. The E-rate program, first launched in 1998, has helped many schools and public libraries connect to the Internet, the study says, but its annual funding cap of $2.25 billion is clearly inadequate. For the fourth year of funding, for example, schools and public libraries applied for nearly $6 billion in E-rate money.

The recent study, "Great Expectations: Leveraging America's Investment in Educational Technology," is a follow-up to an earlier study, "The E-rate in America: A Tale of Four Cities," which profiles the effect of the E-rate program on four Midwestern cities: Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee. Both studies highlight the positive effects of connecting schools in lower-income neighborhoods to the Internet, as well as the frustrations of school staff who deal with the time-consuming procedures of applying for and managing the funds. The current study recommends that the FCC "conduct outreach and assistance to schools in low-income communities" and "expand the list of eligible products, services, and vendors."

"The demand for funds far exceeds the supply," says Norris Dickard, a Benton Foundation senior associate and director of its E-rate project, "and the [E-rate] program needs to do an audit." He recommends that the program put its application forms online, with an error-checking function, so applicants will know in advance whether they've filled out the forms correctly.

An executive summary of "Great Expectations" may be found on the Benton Foundation's Web site at www.benton.org/e-rate/execsummary.html.