roundtable: Alert: Telecom bill mark-up on Thursday; no wording for education

roundtable: Alert: Telecom bill mark-up on Thursday; no wording for education

Alert: Telecom bill mark-up on Thursday; no wording for education

W. Curtiss Priest (BMSLIB@mitvma.mit.edu)
Wed, 22 Mar 95 06:33:32 EST 

Message-Id: <9503221134.AA08115@a.cni.org>
Date:  Wed, 22 Mar 95 06:33:32 EST
From: "W. Curtiss Priest" <BMSLIB@mitvma.mit.edu>
To: Telecommunications Policy Roundtable <ROUNDTABLE@CNI.ORG>
Subject: Alert: Telecom bill mark-up on Thursday; no wording for education


FYI -- Curt

Curtiss Priest
<bmslib@mitvma.mit.edu>

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Date:   Tue, 21 Mar 95 21:39:22 -0500
From: wright@digital.COSN.ORG (William Wright)
To: CoSN Discussion List <cosndisc@list.cren.net>
Subject: Alert: Telecom bill mark-up on Thursday; no wording for education


To CoSN members:

        The telecommunications reform bill will be marked up this Thursday
in the Senate. Last Friday, Larry Pressler, Chair of the Senate Commerce
Committee,  and Reed Hundt, FCC Chairman, met.  At Reed Hundt's urging,
Pressler considered putting education language into the universal service
part of the bill. A state/federal board would administer a fund that would
help schools get connected to the Internet and advanced information
services.

        Senator Hollings' draft of the telecom reform bill has good
language as well. It is says that schools and libraries will get telephone
service at cost (the term being used is "incremental cost," but it means
wholesale or at cost.

        Right now, the word on the street is that Pressler plans to have
*no wording to support education.* Those who work on the Hill say that we
must get some education wording in as a holding place for later
discussions.

        If one of your Senators is on the Commerce Committee (see list
below) please call or fax him/her tomorrow.  I put talking points below and
attached a letter that was being drafted by the National Education
Association (NEA) and National School Boards Association (NSBA) this
afternoon. CoSN and other groups helped work on it agreed to sign it.
Borrow freely from the talking points (the last two are the most important)
or from the draft of the letter. Please fax or call your senators tomorrow,
Wednesday, March 22.


  Some suggested talking points:

* Survey results just announced by the National Center for Education
Statistics (Feb 1995) show that only 3% of our nation's classrooms have
access to the Internet or use information services for instructional
purposes. Cost is the barrier cited most often.

* If we want to have a competitive workforce, our nation's children must
have access to the tools of the information age.

* While we support competition in the telecommunications industry, we want
to make sure that we don't end up as a nation of information haves and
have-nots.

* We support the idea of using part of the universal service fund to help
get our nation's schools connected to advanced information services.

* We support the idea of giving schools and libraries preferential rates
(or service at cost as spelled out in the Hollings' draft).



--letter that went from NEA, NSBA, CoSN, other groups follows-----

The Honorable ____
U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Re:  Support affordable telecommunications access for our nation's schools


Dear Senator ____:

        The following national organizations representing local school
board members, teachers, administrators, and education advocates nationwide
urge the Committee to help ensure that our nation's schools have access to
the current and future telecommunications technologies.  As the Committee
considers telecommunications legislation, we urge the inclusion of
provisions that will provide our schools with universal and affordable
access.

        Telecommunications technologies will open new doors of educational
opportunities for our children.  Access to the NII is critical to ensuring
that our children can succeed in an increasingly technological world
marketplace.  However, for schools to have meaningful access to
telecommunications and information services, access must be universal and
affordable.  While opening up the telecommunications marketplace to
increased competition stands to increase affordability, our long-term
educational interests demand including that goal specifically in
legislation.

        Education will be one of the most important uses of the burgeoning
NII.  Action by this Committee to provide affordable rates for schools will
be of enormous benefit to school children -- the future workforce of this
country.

        Thank you for your support for America's school children

Sincerely,


----------end of draft letter----


-------phone/fax #'s of Senate Commerce Committee members follow---


CONTACT INFORMATION

Here are the Commerce committee members.  Please contact Sen. Larry
Pressler (the Committee Chairman) and Sen. Ernest Hollings at a minimum.
If you see your state listed below, contact your own senator as well.

All addresses are Washington, D.C. 20510

      P ST Name and Address           Phone           Fax
      = == ========================   ==============  ==============
      R SD Pressler, Larry            1-202-224-5842  1-202-224-1259*
            243 RSOB                    larry_pressler@pressler.senate.gov

          *Note this is the Commerce Committee's fax number

      D SC Hollings, Ernest F.        1-202-224-6121  1-202-224-4293
            125 RSOB

      R OR Packwood, Robert           1-202-224-5244  1-202-228-3576
            259 RSOB

      D HI Inouye, Daniel K.          1-202-224-3934  1-202-224-6747
            722 HSOB

      R AK Stevens, Ted               1-202-224-3004  1-202-224-1044
            522 HSOB

      D KY Ford, Wendell H.           1-202-224-4343  1-202-224-0046
            173A RSOB                   wendell_ford@ford.senate.gov

      R AZ McCain, John               1-202-224-2235  1-202-228-2862
            111 RSOB

      D NE Exon, J. J.                1-202-224-4224  1-202-224-5213
            528 HSOB

      R MT Burns, Conrad R.           1-202-224-2644  1-202-224-8594
            183 DSOB

      D WV Rockefeller, John D.       1-202-224-6472  1-202-224-1689
            109 HSOB

      R WA Gorton, Slade              1-202-224-3441  1-202-224-9393
            730 HSOB                    Senator_Gorton@gorton.senate.gov

      D MA Kerry, John F.             1-202-224-2742  1-202-224-8525
            421 RSOB

      R MS Lott, Trent                1-202-224-6253  1-202-224-2262
            487 RSOB

      D LA Breaux, John B.            1-202-224-4623  1-202-224-2435
            516 HSOB

      R TX Hutchison, Kay Bailey      1-202-224-5922  1-202-224-0776
            703 HSOB                    senator@hutchison.senate.gov

      D NV Bryan, Richard H.          1-202-224-6244  1-202-224-1867
            364 RSOB

      R ME Snowe, Olympia             1-202-224-5344  1-202-224-6853
            176 RSOB

      D ND Dorgan, Byron L.           1-202-224-2551  1-202-224-1193
            713 HSOB

      R MO Ashcroft, John             1-202-224-6154  1-202-224-7615
            170 RSOB

-------end of Senate Commerce Committee member list----




Bill Wright - CoSN and ITC          CoSN's new membership office:
1250 24th St. NW, Suite 300         1555 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20037                Washington, DC 20036
(202) 466-0533                      Voice: (202) 466-6296     info@cosn.org
wright@cosn.org                     Fax:   (202) 462-9043

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