March 23, 2000 | Read Time: 1 minute
The E-Rate in America: A Tale of Four Cities, edited by Andy Carvin, analyzes the effects of a federal program that enables public schools and libraries to buy telecommunications technology at a discount. This “e-rate,” which was created in 1997 to help schools connect to the World Wide Web, has provided Internet access to one million classrooms and 10,000 libraries. This report examines how school districts in Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee fared under the program during the fall 1999 semester. Reviews are mixed: The program has brought several benefits, such as improved billing and accounting practices, the report says, but many administrators voiced concern that their schools are becoming too dependent on the discounts the e-rate provides. And the study notes that the existence of new technology has also created a need for resources the program does not support, such as electrical upgrades and computer hardware. This report was financed with a grant from the Joyce Foundation, in Chicago. Publisher: Benton Foundation, 950 18th Street, N.W., Washington 20006; (202) 638-5770; fax (202) 638-5771; benton@benton.org; 65 pages; $15 printed; free online at http://www.benton.org.
