US/ND-4: State's Responsibilty for Technology Provisioning
State's Responsibilty for Technology Provisioning
Tom Buckley (tbuckley@voyager.snetnsa.com)
Tue, 17 Sep 1996 12:45:42 -0400
This is my first posting, but i have been follwing along since the
beginning - I have not seen any postings re the role of the state dept of
ed (SDE) or any other state agency with regard to technology provisioning
in school systems.
Here in CT, the SDE has offered infrastructure grants to help schools equip
their buildings with wiring so they can deploy technology in a planned
efficient fashion. One of the requirements is a board approved technology
plan. Most of the schools have now completed such a plan following
guidelines established at the state level. The grant provides a portion of
the money necessary to deploy updated wiring and infrastructure, but the
schools must alloacte additional funds to complete the job.
In another example, 14 municipalities were granted funds from the dept of
economic development to create an areawide network for Internet access -
that project is now being deployed and schools/libraries/municipal
buildings can be brought online. The network provides a minimum access
rate of 56kbps and has dual broad bandwidth connections to the Internet.
I am an advocate of the states creating statewide networks which can
provide reliable high speed Internet access on an equitable basis. In
addition, a statewide network promotes efficiencies which may not available
to individual schools or systems. Reliability and maintenance can be
supported at regional levels, and educator organizations could band
together to offer supporting training and guidance.
With regard to the Universal Service Fund discussion, I would hope that
each state has the opportunity to define solutions which best meet their
residents' needs. I am concerned when we speak of educational rates for
advanced telecommunication services when the definiton of advanced
telecommunication services seems to be constantly changing. I agree with a
previous discussion regarding the need for schools to contribute to (or
buy-in) the services being provided. I have managed grant programs for a
few years and have found that schools value services and opportunities much
more if they "own" some of it.
Finally, i could not end without echoing what many have already voiced -
there is no FREE lunch - somebody pays the bill. As a consumer of
telecommunications services, I want to be sure that any contribution
included in my bill is used effectively and provides services to schools in
my area - might be selfish, but all schools need access to these services
and I would not want to subsidize other areas at the expense of schools in
our state.
tom buckley