EKB News

Mingo, Logan and Wayne Counties’ school districts are among West Virginia’s 15 counties being awarded a total of $3.6 million to assist students and members of the community with access to the Internet, Senator Jay Rockefeller, D-WV, announced.Rockefeller co-authored the E-Rate program, which has drastically increased Internet access by providing discounts on telecommunication services to schools and libraries.School districts in the three southern West Virginia counties will share in the $3,604,829.97 award as follows:Mingo County School District, $435,573.10, and Mingo Center Library, $4,299.65; Logan County School District, $189,061.59, and the Chapmanville Public Library, $1,185.83; Wayne County School District, $243,020.65.Other counties sharing in the technology funding for schools and libraries are Boone, Cabell, Calhoun, Clay, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Mason, Nicholas, Putnam, Roane and Wirt.“E-Rate serves as an equalizer – tearing down the walls between big and small schools, rich and poor counties and urban and rural regions,” said Rockefeller. “It reaches schools and libraries in every corner of West Virginia, making sure no one is left behind in this age of information, regardless of where they live or what types of resources their schools have.”Twelve years ago, Rockefeller worked with his colleagues in the Senate to author the E-Rate program. This came at a time when only 14 percent of classrooms were connected to the Internet, and only five percent of classes in disadvantaged schools were connected.The most recent survey published by the National Center for Education Statistics reported the proportion of classrooms with Internet access has grown to 90 percent to 97 percent nationwide.“Because of programs like E-Rate, West Virginia has the best record in our country for integrating technology and education,” Rockefeller stated. “The promise of E-Rate is simple and straightforward: to assure that all Americans, regardless of geography, have access to the new information technologies; and to make sure that everyone can reach the enormous opportunities that are available on the Web.”Since the inception of the E-Rate program, West Virginia has received over $101 million in funding, with more than $9.4 million this year, to help schools and libraries pay the cost of linking to the Internet. Rockefeller has closely monitored this program in the years since he first co-authored the program and is reintroducing a bill to protect the long-term future of the Universal Service Fund, which includes E-Rate, to ensure that funding continues to flow to schools and libraries across the state.A breakdown of West Virginia funding levels for each school and library is available on the Universal Service Administrative Company web site at http://www.sl.universalservice.org/funding.


Courtesy : Charlotte Sanders of Williamson Daily News.