Majority Statement

• Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV

  Chairman

  U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
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  Majority Statement

  Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV

  Prepared Opening Statement – Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, Chairman

  In 1996, I brought a 16-year-old high school sophomore, Jessica Lambert, from McDowell County, West Virginia to testify before the Commerce Committee about her success with distance learning. With poise and confidence she spoke to the Members of this Committee in Japanese – a language she was able to learn through the use of technology. She said without satellite classes and the opportunities they afforded, she would have been “left in the dark.”  

  At the time, linking up classrooms via technology was an extraordinary activity –not just in the coalfields of southern West Virginia but across the country. In 1996, this Committee saw the power that technology has to transform a young person’s life. Making sure that every child in America has the opportunity to fulfill their dreams is the reason I worked so hard with former Senator Olympia Snowe and then-Congressman and now Senator Markey to create the bi-partisan E-Rate program.  

  I am proud to say that because of this program millions of children have been able to follow their dreams, just as Jessica did.  Because of E-Rate, what was once so extraordinary is now an everyday part of learning. The impact of E-Rate on our schools has been nothing short of revolutionary.  Since its creation seventeen years ago, E-Rate has provided more than $30 billion to connect the overwhelming majority of schools to the Internet. 

  For example, in 1996, when the Telecommunications Act was signed into law, only 14 percent of all classrooms were connected to the Internet. Among the poorest schools, only five percent of classrooms were connected. The most recent statistics for classroom connection are amazing – over 92 percent of all classrooms are connected, and 95 percent of the poorest classrooms are connected.  

  As impressive as these statistics are, they’re only part of the story. What’s even more notable is the story of what schools have been able to do with this connectivity. Through their Internet connections, schools in the U.S. have been able to conduct virtual field trips to international locations like the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, and at least one school has taken a virtual field trip to outer space, when they visited the International Space Station. 

  High school students have been able to connect with university students to design a roller coaster, and in other cases they have had the opportunity to learn a foreign language from a native speaker. Today, thanks to E-Rate, schools across West Virginia and the nation are filled with similar stories about special opportunities they’ve had because of access to technology in their classroom.   

  I believe E-Rate has done more than just connect our schools – it has spurred a broadband revolution that has been a catalyst for widespread adoption of broadband technology.  E-Rate is also connecting our nation’s libraries, which remain the center of our communities and hubs of lifelong learning.  Our libraries remain on the forefront of public institutions that are adopting new technologies to meet the virtual demands of our communities.  For those without Internet access at home, having a free Internet connection at their local library is critical to closing the digital divide.  

  Libraries with connectivity give children an opportunity to access computers and the Internet so they are not at a disadvantage when they are doing their homework and research; for those seeking work, at the library they can access job postings – many of which are posted only on-line; and those in need of government services can use their community library to complete applications on-line.  All of this is possible because of the critical funding that E-Rate provides to libraries.    

  But we cannot sit back and simply enjoy this extraordinary success, which I think we can all agree upon. Just as technology continues to evolve, so must the E-Rate program.  Several months ago, I called on the FCC to begin the process for creating E-Rate 2.0. I want to commend the FCC for moving quickly on this.  A program designed nearly seventeen years ago needs to reflect the connectivity and technology needs of our schools and libraries today and in the future.  

  Even President Obama agrees that it’s time to strengthen the E-Rate program. Just last month, the President launched his ConnectED initiative, which seeks to increase resources for E-Rate. And the bi-partisan LEAD Commission, whose guiding force – Jim Coulter – is here today, has made it clear that without significant investment in high-capacity Internet connectivity and wireless networks in schools, we will fail our children. 

  I know that we will hear from some that we cannot afford to do this.  Skeptics will ask where will the money come from? 

  What we should be asking is can we afford NOT to do this.  Can we afford to let our kids fall further and further behind their global peers in math and science? Can we afford to deny our teachers the tools they need to educate the next generation? Can we afford NOT to give every child the abilities they need to succeed in a global economy? Or would critics prefer to continue to underinvest in our most important resource – our children?  I think the answers to these questions are clear and unequivocal.  

  Our global economy demands an increasingly educated workforce with higher skills and strong backgrounds in science, math and technology.  Technology continues to offer new tools for raising the quality of education for all students.  

  For so many of our schools, an Internet connection gives them access to an unparalleled amount of information they could otherwise not afford.  Technology has been the great equalizer in society and every child deserves to be connected to the promise that this technology holds. 

  In 1996, when we launched E-Rate, we were not sure where the future would take us.  The accomplishments of this program are something we should all be very proud of, and I am confident that this is just the beginning of the promise of E-Rate.  With the right investments in high capacity, high-speed Internet connections, we can expand E-Rate so that it will be able to provide future generations of children the opportunity to compete in an increasingly interconnected and data-driven world. There’s no doubt in my mind that E-Rate is the program that is giving more students a brighter future – one that we absolutely know is within reach.

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Minority Statement

• Senator John R Thune

  Ranking Member

  U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
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  Minority Statement

  Senator John R Thune

  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing. And, thank you to our witnesses for being with us today.

  Chairman Rockefeller, I would like to start by complimenting you and your success nearly 20 years ago to include language in the 1996 Act that laid the groundwork for E-rate. While we might disagree on some of the particulars on how to modernize the program today, your commitment and determination then and now to deliver the promise of technology to our nation’s schools and libraries is laudable.

  The goal of the E-rate program is to connect America’s classrooms, and by and large today, they are connected. E-rate has played a role in this development, and I agree with champions of the program – like our new colleague Senator Markey – who note that the original goals of E-rate have largely been met. I also agree that the program needs to be reformed. E-rate is nearly two decades old, and like many of our communications laws, it could better reflect today's digital reality. Like you, I am pleased the FCC plans to move forward on Friday with a rulemaking to begin the modernization of E-rate.  

  Online activity in schools will no doubt continue to increase, as it will throughout our society. But I hope E-rate will avoid prioritizing reaching debatable speed goals for some schools at the expense of necessary connectivity in others. As we consider ultra-fast broadband in American classrooms, we must not lose sight of those schools and students that still need more basic communications services. 

  The President’s ConnectED Initiative includes the goal of connecting 99 percent of America’s primary and secondary students with high speed broadband and wireless within five years. We should keep in mind, however, that the unreached one percent in this case amounts to over half a million students – and that assumes the goal is met, so the real number could be much higher. As a senator from a very rural state with just 147,000 school children, the parents, teachers, and students I represent would like to know where they stand as a priority for this federal program moving ahead.

  The fact is schools in remote areas are simply more expensive to reach with service than their counterparts in more populated areas, which are typically located much closer to network infrastructure. This has always been the underlying issue at hand with universal service, and I look forward to seeing how the FCC addresses this reality through E-rate reform.

  I also want to draw particular attention to FCC Commissioner Pai’s speech, delivered yesterday, in which he outlined several reform ideas for the Commission to consider. I am intrigued by many of Commissioner Pai’s proposals, such as providing more simplicity, transparency, and accountability for the E-rate program and its beneficiaries. I am also pleased by his focus on local decision making and flexibility, allowing schools to meet their own needs, which may not always be what Washington assumes. 

  Finally, I want to applaud his suggestion that reform be achieved within the current resources available to the Universal Service Fund. The president, in rolling out his ConnectED initiative, also directed the federal government to make better use of existing funds to get Internet connectivity and educational technology into classrooms. I agree with Commissioner Pai and the president, because it is very important for all government programs to stay within their means in this difficult fiscal and economic environment.   

  Again, Mr. Chairman, thank you for holding today’s hearing. I look forward to working with you to continue our committee’s oversight of the FCC and its E-rate rulemaking.  

  Thank you. 

Testimony

• Dr. Sheryl R. Abshire

  Chief Technology Officer

  Calcasieu Parish School System, Louisiana
  Download Testimony (168.98 KB)

• Ms. Linda H. Lord

  State Librarian

  Maine State Library
  Download Testimony (254.42 KB)

• Mr. Patrick Finn

  Senior Vice President, U.S. Public Sector

  Cisco Systems, Inc.
  Download Testimony (200.74 KB)

• Mr. James G. Coulter

  Co-founder

  TPG Capital
  Download Testimony (306.09 KB)