The statement is the culmination of two months of ALA’s intensive review and research, and forms ALA’s official response to the FCC’s notice of proposed rulemaking that aims to overhaul the E-rate program, the most comprehensive proceeding since the program’s 1997 inception. The statement, the ALA notes, is in line with with President Obama’s ConnectED goal for access to high-speed broadband and wireless for all America’s students through libraries and schools within five years.

“The nation is facing a sea change in what robust technology infrastructure can enable, and libraries are perfectly positioned to light the way forward and ensure no one is excluded from digital opportunity,” says ALA President Barbara Stripling. “America’s libraries must move from basic connectivity to high-capacity broadband so our students and our communities can compete globally. The E-rate program is essential for fulfilling this digital promise.”

America’s 16,417 public libraries serve more than 77 million computer users each year, yet only half of these multi-user outlets offer Internet speeds above the FCC’s home broadband recommendation of 4 Mbps. Through these Internet connections, libraries support the education, employment and e-government resources and services all increasingly moving to “the cloud,” ALA notes.

The ALA calls for new E-rate funding to jumpstart and sustain high-capacity and high-speed Internet connections that support digital learning and economic development through libraries and schools. The current funding cap on the program consistently falls far short of meeting basic demand for Internet-enabled education and learning services, and technology trends clearly show needs and future capabilities only are growing, ALA notes.

To address this, ALA says it supports a two-pronged approach: 1) New temporary funding to support the build-out of high-capacity broadband networks and provide increased support for libraries with the lowest levels of broadband connectivity. 2) A permanent increase in funding.

“Current funding does not reflect the economic reality faced by libraries and schools as they try to upgrade their broadband services,” says Emily Sheketoff, director of ALA’s Washington office. “This FCC proceeding provides an important opportunity to add more funding to the program and increase the value of the program to libraries, schools and our communities.”

ALA also urges the FCC to provide additional E-rate discounts for remote rural libraries, streamline the E-rate’s application review process; replace E-rate procurement rules with those of the applicable locality or state; lower barriers to deployment of dark and lit fiber and ownership of wide area networks when they are the most cost-effective ways to deliver broadband; work with libraries and schools to develop “scalable” bandwidth targets and benchmarks for measuring progress against these targets; and allow applicants to file an “evergreen” form for multi-year contracts.

“We commend the FCC Commissioners on their thoughtful and thorough invitation to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the E-rate program,” adds Marijke Visser, assistant director of the ALA Office for Information Technology Policy. “[ALA's] filing is clearly only the first step to an E-rate 2.0, and we look forward to engaging in the process over the coming months.”

The hearing, “E-Rate 2.0: Connecting Every Child to the Transformative Power of Technology,” aimed to address issues on strengthening the program that provides discounted Internet access and telecommunications services to U.S. schools and libraries,  in response to the Obama Administration ‘s directive last month to fund access to broadband to nearly all students within the next five years.

“I’m old enough to remember when it took 20 minutes to establish a dial-up connection. Clearly we are in a different place today. So are our libraries,” Lord told the committee [PDF], which oversees the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), who administers E-Rate.

“In 1998, I could not have envisioned the programs libraries offer today. For instance, we are using interactive videoconferencing technology to connect rural Mainers with volunteer attorneys. One library serving a population of about 1,200 hosted elementary students to view a real-time program on flight from the Smithsonian. This would not have been possible even five years ago.”

Lord also cautioned the committee, however, that simply connecting libraries and schools is not enough to serve our students and families today. “We need high-speed, reliable connections like the one at the Omaha Public Library that ensured one patron could Skype into three interviews with Boeing before being offered a job,” she said. “We also need upload capabilities that rival download speeds for small businesses to upload large packets of information into the cloud.”

The hearing comes just ahead of a decision from the FCC on its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to modernize the E-rate program.

Says Barbara Stripling, American Library Association (ALA) president, “Whether you are a school librarian—as both Linda Lord and I have been—or a public librarian, you know that your Internet infrastructure can either enable or stifle innovation for our nation’s 55 million K12 students, more than 1.5 million home-school students and millions more pursuing their GED or distance learning.We simply cannot allow inadequate bandwidth to be the limiting factor for what our students and our nation can achieve. E-rate is fundamental to meeting this challenge.”

According to a 2013 Pew Internet Project report, the availability of computers and Internet access now rivals book lending and reference expertise as vital library services. Seventy-seven percent of Americans say free access to computers and the Internet is a “very important” service of libraries, compared with 80 percent who say borrowing books and access to reference librarians are “very important” services.

While ISTE applauds Obama for ConnectEd, which sets a goal of broadband access for nearly all U.S. students within the next five years, the organization stresses the same issue raised by the American Library Assocation: that E-Rate has been woefully underfunded since its inception.

ISTE also notes that the discrepancy between what schools and libraries need and what can be funded with E-Rate’s current budget has only grown wider over the years as technology has advanced.

“We forget that it was only in 2010 that the iPad has burst onto the scene. Our view of technology has shifted as it has become more ubiquitous in our lives, so access is critically important. Times have changed. Technology has changed,” ISTE CEO Brian Lewis says. “The issue of not only equity of access but efficiency of access and speed of access and functionality of access—these issues have evolved over the years, so the notion of what the president is doing makes sense.”

However, “the second half of the conversation is the resources,” Lewis says.

For 2013, school and libraries have requested nearly $5 billion from the E-Rate program—although the available funds in the program total only about half of that amount.

“If we’re going to set expectations on schools, and we recognize that educational technology is there to support learning, and we believe that there needs to be equity of access to high-speed internet, and we know that’s a critical tool…how do we as a society [do this],” Lewis says, “but by the same token…turn a blind eye to the $2.5 billion dollar demand that exceeds resources currently?”

Ultimately, it’s about political will, and that begins with the president, Lewis says, dismissing recent criticisms that Obama’s initiative does not go far enough because it lacks specific legislative directives for funding. “I think what the president is trying to do is…to push this issue, to shine a light on it, to share best practices, and call attention to the broader [concerns],” Lewis explains. “He can’t by the stroke of a pen raise the money to meet that $2.5-billion-dollar gap, but he’s doing all he can to call attention to the need in the way that he has authority [to do].”

The duty is now on others, Lewis says, to fully commit to equipping students with what they need at the same time they are demanding that schools be held accountable for meeting learning objectives. “It’s like telling a student, ‘we want you to go get an “A” on this test, but we’re not going to provide you with any resource materials, electronic or otherwise, to help you prepare for that test.’ It’s the same thing.”

Still, Lewis says ISTE is mindful of E-Rates many successes since the program was introduced in 1996. “The good news has been what E-Rate has accomplished over the years, in terms of providing equitable opportunities for each and every student,” he says.

Adds Lewis, “One of the things we know is that every district is different, and every formula needs to be tweaked—whether that’s the formula for pedagogy or technology or budgeting—and what’s great about what the president is doing is the administration is shining a spotlight on best practices where it is working. What can we learn from where it’s working?”

ISTE also remains hopeful of what’s to come, and plans to continue to work with the White House, the FCC, and other educational stakeholders in helping to guide the conversation at the same time it advocates for increased support in funding, Lewis says.

“It’s a combination,” Lewis says. “We want to do what the president is suggesting and support the development and promulgation of sharing of best practices and that’s great. That’s a lot of what ISTE is philosophically about—creating a space and time, virtual and real, where people share best practices. And that’s critical. But the other piece is, always, the issue of resources.

Adds Lewis, “We have to take advantage of the fact that the president made a very conscious choice to focus his attention on this issue that we all care about. Our job now is to take that opportunity and continue to work it, continue to push it, and argue successfully for the financial piece that’s necessary to finish this puzzle.”

Thus, defining the issue’s new “leverage points” in the face of ConnectEd is the organization’s next step, Lewis says, adding, “we’re still having that conversation.”

In the meantime, ISTE will be broaching the issue in full force at its annual conference and expo in San Antonio later this month, when FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and Richard Culatta, acting director of the Office of Educational Technology for the Department of Education, will both be featured speakers. ISTE is also hosting a 12-minute “speed panel” on E-Rate, plus a sponsored “Advocacy Lounge” where attendees can write to their representatives, sign White House petitions, and learn more about standing up for students’ access to resources.

“It’s the first time in a long time that that any interest in E-Rate specifically has come from the White House, and it’s all wrapped into education technology and student success, in and out of the classroom,” Marijke Visser, associate director of the ALA Program on Networks, tells SLJ. “So it’s a different focus than just the regular connectivity, which is really what E-Rate is all about. You need this kind of connectivity because you want to provide students with this ability…to do whatever they need to do, and not have the bandwith be the limiting factor. And I think that focus has now come to the fore.”

Maureen Sullivan, ALA president, agrees. “ALA is encouraged by President Obama’s announcement of the ConnectEd initiative to ensure that libraries and schools have access to robust, affordable high-capacity broadband for many years to come,” she said in a statement released Thursday. “As the digital revolution continues to unfold, libraries and schools will need substantially more powerful network capabilities. Inadequate bandwidth must not be the weak link in student success.”

Visser, who works closely with the FCC on E-Rate issues and policy, and Sullivan both note the importance of more funding for the program, which they say is dramatically oversubscribed.

“For 2013, there’s about $2.38 billion available in the fund—and schools and libraries have requested close to $5 billion. So you can see the discrepancy,” Visser tells SLJ.

Visser also notes, “The fact that the White House [recognized] that [E-Rate] is underfunded and that they’re looking for a way to infuse more money into the fund? That’s huge. That’s something that ALA has been talking about more or less from the beginning of the program [in 1996].”

Is the ALA confident that ConnectEd will finally meet the needs of U.S. schools and libraries? “We’re hopeful,” Visser says. “We were very pleased that the president actually said schools and libraries in his remarks. That’s a big plus for us, because within the E-Rate program, (school) libraries are pretty small fish; they don’t apply by themselves. They benefit because the school applies. So often with the FCC, the conversation starts with public libraries, and then we take the opportunity to talk about the good work and the relationship of the school library to the classroom setting.”

Visser also says she believes ConnectEd is on a fairly fast track. The ALA is expecting the FCC to issue a notice about the proposed new rules—which is the public forum portion of the process in which school and library stakeholders such as ALA; individual districts, schools and libraries; and even citizens are invited to comment and add questions to the public record—very soon, followed by a comment review and an eventual FCC order, Visser explains.

In the meantime, Visser’s policy team is continuing to work with ALA’s task force on E-Rate, helping to work through some issues and questions so they will be ready to add to the public discussion just as soon as the FCC calls for comment.  “It’s an active process,” she says.

“I think everybody recognizes that students need this kind of connectivity and schools and libraries need it,” Visser adds. “So we’re in a good place to move forward. And it’s exciting to think about.”