SchoolTone Alliance Endorses
"National Digital School Districts" Amendment
Washington, D.C. - The SchoolTone Alliance, a
not-for-profit, independent consortium of companies promoting the benefits of Internet-based computing in schools, today endorsed the "National Digital School Districts" Amendment to S.1, the Better Education for Students and Teachers Act.
The amendment, introduced by Senator Maria
Cantwell, (D-WA) would fund model digital schools in every state as part of an effort to implement the vision of the
bipartisan Congressional Web-based Commission on Education.
The Commission, chaired by former Senator Bob Kerrey
(D-NE) with Representative Johnny Isakson (R-GA) serving as
vice chair, released its report, The Power of the Internet
for Learning late last year and called upon policymakers toenact an "e-learning agenda."
"The Cantwell Amendment is the catalyst we need to encourage the growth of web-based education - a step
towards creating an 'e-agenda' providing all students with the
opportunity to realize
the promise of the Internet for learning," said
Irene Spero,
Executive Director of the SchoolTone Alliance."We
urge the Senate
to adopt this important measure."
The legislation authorizes $150 million over two
years for each state
(and the District of Columbia) to oversee a
competitive grant process
by whichschool districts would propose
comprehensive district-wide
strategies for using technology to improve the
learning environment.
In the first year of this process, each state
would receive full
funding for one state grant for each of the fifty
states. In the
second year, state and local government would
provide matching funds
to create a second grant. In the third year, the
legislation would
authorize $25 million to conduct a nation-wide
study to compare,
evaluate and assess the 102 individual model
programs to evaluate
what are effective and ineffective uses of
technology resources in
schools.
In addition to SchoolTone, the amendment has been
endorsed by the
National Education Association (NEA), the
American Federation
of Teachers (AFT), and the Computer and
Communications Industry
Association (CCIA).
The SchoolTone Alliance was established in 1999,
and is currently
headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The
organization will officially
relocate to Washington, D.C. later this year.
SchoolTone Alliance member companies include:
ACTV HyperTV Networks, Inc.
bigchalk.com
Blackboard, Inc.
BritannicaSchool.com
Broadware Technologies
Exodus Communications
HighWired.com
Isis Communications Limited
JASON Foundation
Lucent Technologies
National Semiconductor
Power School
Riverdeep Interactive Learning
SaskTel
SchoolCity.com
SchoolCruiser/Timecruiser Computing
Simplexis.com
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
USA Video Interactive Corp.
VIP Tone, Inc.
# # #
The SchoolTone Alliance is an independent,
nonprofit association of
companies who collectively promote the portal
computing model and the
benefits that such a scalable model creates for
schools worldwide. For
further information, please visit our web site,
www.schooltone.com,
send an e-mail to schooltone@schooltone.com,
contact the business
office at 401 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL,
60611 or call
312-673-5500. SchoolTone is a registered
trademark of the
SchoolTone Alliance. |
