I know many of you got this from Jon, but I am forwarding it to those that are not on the tech-cord list serv.
Colorado's Six District Representative, Tom Tancredo (http://www.house.gov/tancredo/) introduced H.R. 1252 ( http://www.erateconsulting.com/data/HR1252.pdf) on Wednesday, March 12. The bill is to be referred to as the "E-rate Termination Act". Erate Consulting Services,LLC (ERC) (http://www.erateconsulting.com) tried to contact the Congressman for further detail about the bill but was only able to speak to staffers. The comment from the Congressman's office is "the bill is to eliminate the tax...the program has served it's purpose in providing computers to schools". When ERC staff reminded the Congressman's office that the program is not a tax the comment from the Congressman's office is "it has still served it's purpose". ERC feels the Congressman should familiarize himself with the programs national impact. Sponsoring a bill that impacts funding for instructional technology during a time of financial distress is risky at best. Further the Congressman should be informed the funding mechanism for this program is a voluntary offering from United States Citizens to ensure social and economic development in rural areas and prevent the creation of digitally disadvantaged youth. Considering the majority of the nations student population is in a rural school, the Congressman should first poll each school district to find out where they will get the money to fund their current contracted telecommunications cost! What do you think? ERC has established a website seeking your comments. We plan to deliver the results to Congressman Tancredo and the members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee investigating the "Troubled" Erate program (http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/news/03132003_828). Please post your comments as we cannot allow a few bad apples to spoil this important avenue of funding for instructional technology. Click the following link to post your comments (http://www.erateconsulting.com/Legislation/comments1.htm) Lance L. Lennon Network Engineer Arrowhead AEA 515-574-5477 or 1-800-669-2325 ext 5477 --- [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus on the server aea8.k12.ia.us] --------------------------------------------------------- Archived messages from this list can be found at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ---------------------------------------------------------
