50 education, public interest organizations support E-rate expansion

A revamping of the federal E-rate program has a long list of education and policy organizations that have shown support.

President Barack Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan also support Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn's proposed changes and upgrades to the federal E-rate program, an important piece of President Obama's ConnectED Initiative, which aims to provide high-speed Internet and broadband to 99 percent of the nation's schools within five years.

Chairwoman Clyburn also called for changes in the E-rate program's purchasing power and administrative oversight, including the addition of an extensive period of public comment and additional review by FCC commissioners.
 
More than 50 national organizations signed a letter urging the commissioners to act quickly on the chair's proposal. Some of the comprehensive list of education and policy groups that signed were the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, the nation's two largest teachers' unions; the NAACP; advocacy groups such as Democrats for Education Reform; and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, a pair of consortia of states designing tests aligned to the Common Core State Standards.

Fifty National Organizations Rally Behind E-Rate Overhaul (July 10, 2013)