Testimony of Don Schulte

Submited to House of Representatives Small Business Committee, Subcommittee on Rural Enterprises, Agriculture and Technology

May 3, 2006

Good Morning, Chairman Graves.

Thank you and the other members of the subcommittee for allowing me to testify today about the benefits of the E-Rate program and the need to ensure that it remains vital and stable.  My name is Don Schulte, and I am currently a high school social studies teacher at Pattonville High School in Maryland Heights, Missouri.  I have been a teacher for 19 years, and in that time I've seen enormous changes in the technology infrastructure of our schools and the way in which we use technology to teach, enhance curriculum offerings, strengthen parental involvement, and improve administrative efficiency.

When I began teaching, there was not a single computer lab in the school. In 1992, we established our first lab with 12 computers. The students had to sit two students per computer. There was one AOL account that we could use to show students what the Internet looked like. Now, every classroom has at least one computer in it, and every computer is wired to the Internet. We have five computer labs for technology-related courses. More and more content is Web-based these days, which makes the maintenance of connectivity not a luxury but a necessity in today's schools. Thankfully, we are beginning to see more textbooks placed online. This helps combat a significant trend of back and hip injuries in our young people caused by carrying overweight backpacks full of books. We incorporate Internet-based research skills into our lesson plans and homework assignments.

My school district is a suburban district with many course offerings; however, there are places in our state that can only offer a rich, well-rounded curriculum by using distance learning and Internet connectivity. In fact, one of the first distance learning courses I can remember was a Japanese course being offered online. Currently, four school districts in southwestern Missouri can only offer Physics via distance learning. With the recent push in the business community and by the Administration to place more emphasis on math and science, this simply will not be possible in many rural areas without Internet connectivity. And I know that this is typical of rural areas across the country.

Parents have more ways to be involved in their children’s education due to the E-Rate program and what it has allowed our school district to do.  Parents can log into a secure database to check their children's grades on assignments, whether they attended school, whether they turned in their homework, and what the current class assignments are.

Routine, administrative functions are also made more efficient by the power of the E-Rate program. Library cards are now all electronic, as is the inventory of the library. So I can sit in my classroom and find out whether a particular book or resource material is currently in the library or whether it's been checked out.

Our school district receives roughly $71,000 per year in E-Rate funds. These funds help us pay for our T-1 lines, our emergency and alarm lines, and our long distance. Our superintendent's office indicates that without E-Rate funds, we would also likely lose access to library and media services offered through a company called MoreNet.

Given the importance of this funding, I am concerned, however, about the viability of the Universal Service Fund which funds the E-Rate program. As you know, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires traditional long-distance carriers to pay into the Fund. But as other types of service increase, such as VOIP and others, the stability and long-term viability of the Fund is jeopardized. That's why I, along with other 2.8 million members of the National Education Association, support the Terry-Boucher bill—H.R. 5072—to ensure that E-Rate funding continues to flow to schools and libraries across the country. As I've indicated, Internet connectivity is no longer a luxury, it is an absolute necessity if we're going to adequately prepare our young people to compete in the 21st Century workforce.

Thank you very much for allowing me to provide an educator's viewpoint today.