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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 12, 1998

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Bob Chase, president of the National Education Association (NEA), voiced sharp disagreement with today's expected decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to fund the "E-Rate" program at nearly $1 billion below its promised level. The FCC is expected to announce its decision later today.

Chase expressed relief that the program appears to have survived attempts to eliminate it, but voiced deep concern over the impact that FCC funding decision would have on applications.

More than 30,000 applications -- totaling $2.02 billion -- have already been received this year from school districts and libraries for the program's discounts for Internet access, phone service, and internal connections for telecommunications. The FCC, which originally committed to $2.25 billion in annual funding for the program, is expected to scale back that commitment today to $1.275 billion for 1998.

"This agreement is deeply disappointing, because it says we're willing to leave half our children behind on the journey into the 21st century," Chase said. "We can talk all we want about how much we love our children, but when push came to shove, profits for the telecommunications industry were apparently more important than our kids' futures."

The E-Rate program has been under heavy attack from major telecommunications companies -- AT&T and MCI in particular -- who are claiming they cannot afford to pay into the fund that pays for its discounts. Those same companies were given deep discounts in local access fees, along with numerous other profit-generating incentives in the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which also established the E-Rate program.

Chase expressed worry about the impact of the FCC decision on school budgets across America.

"Thousands of school districts have already signed contracts and set budgets based on the discounts they were promised," Chase said. "This decision is going to create chaos in those communities, and deny millions of students the chance to learn the technological skills they'll need to succeed in the 21st century."

The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing more than 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.