The Clinton Administration is fully committed
to connecting America's classrooms by year 2,000 and to maintaining the
e-rate program. Two weeks ago, when the FCC was considering the program's
funding, Vice-President Gore repeatedly stressed the need for the program's
continuation and pledged that he "would fight any effort by Congress to
end the e-rate."
The Administration recognizes that technological
literacy is as necessary a skill as reading, writing, and arithmetic. By
the year 2,000, an estimated six out of ten jobs will require computer
skills that only 22% of our work force currently possesses. Our nation's
future, and the future of children depend on learning the skills needed
to handle these jobs.
As President Clinton so eloquently put
it at his Commencement Speech at MIT earlier this month:
"[U]ntil every child has a computer in the classroom and a teacher well-trained to help, until every student has the skills to tap the enormous resources of the Internet, until every high-tech company can find skilled workers to fill its high-wage jobs, America will miss the full promise of the Information Age."
In fact, President Clinton proposed that,
not only high school students, but even middle school students, should
have access to Internet's resources and learn computer skills in class.
Thanks to your hard efforts, we have made
significant progress in connecting our libraries and classrooms. Currently,
72% of our public libraries offer Internet access, and roughly 60% make
it publicly available. Almost 80% of our schools are connected, more than
twice as many as in 1994. And now 27% of our classrooms are connected,
compared to only 3 % in 1994.
But we still have a significant ways to
go, particularly in our inner cities and rural areas. Only a little more
than half of rural libraries offer Internet access. Classrooms in poor
and predominantly minority public schools are almost 3 times less likely
to have Internet access as those in wealthy schools.
We must continue to make discounts available
to those libraries, schools, and health facilities that are not yet connected
to Internet. And we should allow these facilities to choose the appropriate
means to make those connections, whether through wireless technology or
wired telephone service. Our goal is to make connections as easy and effective
as possible so that those in our inner cities, and rural communities, have
the same access to information and new technologies as those in more affluent
suburbs.
I'd like to tell you about another program,
also under siege, that is making a significant difference in bringing new
technologies to our communities. That is the Telecommunications
and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP), operated by
NTIA. TIIAP is a demonstration program that provides federal, matching
grants to non-profit and public entities that are using electronic services
in new, and socially valuable, ways. TIIAP selects projects on the basis
of their ability to serve as national models for innovative applications
of computer technology. Only a small percentage of TIIAP grant applicants
or recipients are eligible for universal service programs.
To date, TIIAP has funded 332 demonstration projects in all fifty states.
These grants support public needs in a wide range of areas, including public
safety, health, economic development, and continuing education. Examples
of these projects include:
Despite TIIAP's successes, Congress is now threatening to reduce TIIAP's
current level of funding of $20 million. The Senate Appropriations Committee
recommended a 50% cut, and the House Appropriations Subcommittee recommended
a reduction to $16 million. Part of the problem is a major misunderstanding
that TIIAP duplicates the e-rate program. At one point this past week,
Congress even proposed language that would eliminate schools and libraries
as eligible TIIAP grant recipients.
We need to correct the apparent confusion between the e-rate and TIIAP
programs. Both programs are essential and serve different purposes. The
e-rate program will ensure that schools and libraries can afford access
to the Internet and to advanced telecommunications services. TIIAP will
continue to break new ground in connecting the entire community. We believe
that schools and libraries should continue to be involved in the TIIAP
program if they are promoting innovative uses of technology and reaching
out to different segments of the community. The focus should not be on
the type of organization, but on the type of service offered.
The continuity of e-rate and TIIAP is essential to ensuring that all
communities and children -- even those in rural areas and inner cities
-- have access to computers and informational services. We cannot afford
to be a society of "haves" and "have-nots" when it comes to technological
literacy, since that is our ticket for survival in the 21st
century.