Schools, libraries
seek to increase
cyberspace access
Hawaii might pay just $3 million
By Pete Pichaske
for $12 million in services under a
federal program, an official says
Star-BulletinWASHINGTON -- Hawaii's school and library administrators are counting on a new federal program to open cyberspace to students and library users throughout the state at a fraction of what it would normally cost. The state school system alone is hoping to save as much as $9 million by using the subsidy program to hook up classrooms throughout the state. Library officials also are predicting big benefits and big savings.
"If it happens, and it should, it'll really be a bonanza," said Kyunghak John Kim, telecommunications director for the Hawaii Department of Education. "It'll really give us a big jump from what we have now."
"This is great for us," echoed Kathy Sterrett, who is guiding the state public library system's efforts. "The savings are going to be quite a large sum."
The federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 set up a special fund, subsidized largely by communications companies, to help pay for the telecommunications needs of schools and libraries.
The money would be used to offer discounts ranging from 20 percent to 90 percent, depending on the economic need of the district, on a range of telecommunications services, including Internet access, internal connections and upgraded phone lines.
The discounts do not cover equipment such as computers.
The program is to begin Jan. 1, and a total of $2.25 billion was set aside for the first year.
Critics decry the fund as a new tax that will be passed on to consumers, and the Federal Communications Commission, which will administer the program, recently scaled back the subsidies available for the first six months of the year by 25 percent.
But schools and libraries have hailed the discounts as an affordable way to hook up their students and clients to cyberspace. Applications for the subsidies were mailed out this month, and schools and libraries nationwide have started the tedious process of applying for the subsidies.
"School administrators are very enthusiastic about the program," said the FCC's Tim Peterson. "They're all making plans to participate."
The Hawaii public school system alone has nine people working on the project, according to Kim.
"Our push is to have all the classrooms connected," said Kim. "All our schools are connected, but we want all our classrooms connected."
He said he expected almost all of Hawaii's public schools to seek something from the program, and expects the system to upgrade its telecommunications connections with other state agencies.
The total cost of the improvements could reach $12 million, Kim estimated, but subsidies should pay for all but $3 million to $4 million.
Some of the system's poorer schools, such as those on the Big Island, for example, could receive the maximum 90 percent subsidy, said Kim. The size of the subsidy is based on the percentage of students at the school eligible for the national school lunch program.
The same criteria applies to the state's 49 public libraries, according to Sterrett.
The libraries are "still exploring what we need," she said. But the top priority probably will be upgrading phone lines to increase capacity and allow higher-speed connections. Many of the libraries, she said, are already at the maximum capacity.
A discounted upgrade, said Sterrett, would not only make new telecommunications equipment possible, it would free up state money to buy that equipment.
"With our budget situation, who knows when we'd get this" without the subsidies, said Sterrett. "This could be worth a lot of money to us."
