US/ND-2: Scope of Services
Scope of Services
Aleck Johnson (johnson@itc.org)
Wed, 04 Sep 1996 18:13:21 -0400
The discussion going on about the scope of services needed by schools and
libraries has been highly educational. I thought that I would share with
the participants in this seminar the position of the Education and Libraries
Networks Coalition (EdLiNC), a group which has been active in the
proceedings at the FCC.
In question 6 of the FCC's Request for Further Comments, the FCC asked
whether there should be a specific list of services or functionalities to
which discounts should be applied. In our last filing, dated August 2, we
basically argued that any and all telecommunications services that schools
and libraries want to receive should be discounted at a special E-Rate.
Since the needs, circumstances, and opportunities of schools and libraries
across the country will vary greatly, we believe that they are the best
qualified organizations for determining what kinds of services they need in
order to best serve their students or patrons. Furthermore, given the rapid
growth of in the types of services (both in terms of what the services can
do and how they're delivered), schools and libraries should be allowed to
choose between the different technological options without having to refer
to a list from the FCC of "acceptable services."
Question 7 dealt with the question of inside wiring; i.e. should there be
universal service support for the last leg of wiring to libraries and
schools. While this question might seem like it has an obvious answer
("YES!"), a number of organizations in Washington have argued that their
obligation under the act ends somewhere out beyond the classroom or the
library. Given the realities of school and library budgets and the enormous
expenses that moving into a digital, computer-enhanced learning environment,
we think that the answer is obviously "yes, inside wiring is included." The
legal justification comes from the language of the bill itself, which
directs the Commission
"to enhance, to the extent technically feasible and
economically reasonable, access to advanced telecommunications
and information services for all public and nonprofit
elementary and secondary school classrooms, health care
providers, and libraries"
EdLiNC's proposal for discounts would give all schools and libraries in the
state a discount of between 30% and 70%, based on relative need. We think
that this sliding scale would best meet the "affordability" goal for schools
and libaries. For those schools and libraries which still could not afford
service, a "lifeline" fund should be set up in each state in order to help
defray the costs of telecommunications services for the neediest schools.
The coalition has prepared a number of materials, including a "media kit"
which contains important information about the FCC proceedings and what
individuals interested in helping their schools and libraries realize the
potential of the information revolution can do. These materials (and copies
of our filings) are all available on the EdLiNC website at
http://www.itc.org/edlinc.
[Moderator's Note: Thanks for the pointer. Some of this material was
already available in our On-line Repository under "National Schools
Boards Association, et al. I'll update the links to point to the
material indicated here. If other people who have filed with the FCC
have pointers to their own on-line resources or corrections to make to
items in the Repository, please let us know. You can write to
updates@info-ren.pitt.edu with pointers, new material or corrections.]
Aleck Johnson
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Aleck Johnson johnson@itc.org
Research Associate 1250 24th St. NW Ste. 300
International Telecomputing Consortium Washington, DC 20037
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Check out the Affordable Access, Rural Online Homepage at:
http://www.itc.org/aaron/
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