The federal government's push to get poorer schools, libraries and community centers connected to the Internet used more than $4 billion during its first two years, but was successful in getting many of the nation's eligible facilities connected to the information superhighway.

The e-rate program, created as part of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, provides public funds to offer discounted Internet access and network services to schools and libraries, especially those facilities in poorer rural and urban areas.

The program is working as it was intended, with more than 85 percent of funds available in the first two years going to schools. Also, the country's poorest school districts received nearly 10 times as much funding as did better-off districts, according to the "E-Rate and the Digital Divide: A Preliminary Analysis From the Integrated Studies of Educational Technology" report (which requires the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software to view).

The report was prepared for the U.S. Department of Education -- which released it earlier this week -- by the Urban Institute.

"The e-rate is helping to eliminate the digital divide and raise standards of learning in virtually every school and classroom. The report clearly shows that we're moving in the right direction," Education Secretary Richard Riley said about the report's findings.

The report found that poorer school districts submitted few applications during the first year of the e-rate program, but then submitted proportionally more applications during the second year, Wired News reports.

The nation's poorest school districts likely will need even more help to achieve universal connectivity, because many of them need better computer systems, help completing applications, and funding to cover even the minimal fees required under the program, Riley said.

Full text of the article is currently found at:
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/
0,1282,38729,00.html