Education

E-Rate

Senator Rockefeller is one of the original authors of the E-Rate program, a hugely successful effort to promote Internet connectivity in classrooms and libraries across the country. Since the inception of the E-Rate program, the number of schools connected to the Internet has grown from 14 to 92 percent nationwide, and schools in low-income areas have grown from 5 percent to over 90 percent.

To date, West Virginia has received more than $89 million in funding to help schools and libraries pay for the cost of linking to the Internet and maintain access on an annual basis.

In recent years, Senator Rockefeller has also introduced legislation to protect the long-term future of the Universal Service Fund, the umbrella program for E-Rate, to ensure that funding continues to flow to schools and libraries across the state.