Time to bring high-speed broadband into our schools

In Politico, U.S. Representative Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel told the nation that our schools require high-speed broadband. “We should do this now,” they wrote on June 3, “because in the world we live in broadband capacity is not a luxury. It is a necessity for our next generation to compete.” To do so, they wrote, we need to update E-Rate, the country’s largest education technology program.

Eshoo is ranking member of the Communications and Technology Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Rosenworcel was appointed by President Obama to the FCC in May, 2012. They wrote:

“Digital-age broadband and cloud computing are not only revolutionizing our economy, they are transforming education as we know it. In time, traditional classroom teaching tools like blackboards and books are bound to be delivered through high-speed bandwidth.”

Making the change, though, requires more than pronouncements. “... to have really successful digital classrooms,” they wrote, “we need bandwidth – and lots of it.”

However, we’re not living up to the challenge. Right now, too many schools struggle along with Internet speeds of 3 megabits or less – too slow for HD video or other innovative tools. The response, they wrote is, “We should reboot, reinvigorate and recharge the E-Rate program. Call it E-Rate 2.0.”

It’s a long-range program. “By the end of the decade, every school should have access to 1 gigabit per 1,000 students. Libraries, too, will need access on par with these capacity goals... By using the E-Rate program to uniformly increase bandwidth, we can avoid fracturing this bandwidth update through every local school jurisdiction.”

Speed Matters wholeheartedly supports Representative Eshoo and Commissioner Rosenworcel. Bring on E-Rate 2.0.

Transforming education digitally (Politico, Jun. 3, 2013)