Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

FCC aims to simplify e-Rate, expand funding

New rules may impact schools' e-Rate funding.
New rules may impact schools' e-Rate funding.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed new e-Rate rules designed to simplify the program and bring discounts on networking services to more schools and libraries.

Among other actions, the FCC wants to index the e-Rate to inflation. That would result in the first increase in funding to the $2.25 billion-a-year program since it began more than a decade ago.

But executives attending the Software and Information Industry Association’s annual Education Technology Industry Summit in San Francisco expressed disappointment in the FCC’s proposal, saying it doesn’t go far enough in meeting schools’ needs.…Read More

Foundations offer $506M for education innovation

Schools could see budget relief with new grants.
Schools could see budget relief with new grants.

A coalition of wealthy foundations is offering up to half a billion dollars to match federal grants meant to encourage education reform, taking the pressure off schools scrambling to find the matching dollars they need to get the money.

A dozen foundations plan to announce this week that they are investing $506 million, a portion of which is intended to match grants from the $650 million Investing in Innovation (I3) program from the U.S. Department of Education (ED).

The foundations also set up an internet portal for applying for matching funds from all the foundations in one step, streamlining the task of seeking money from multiple sources. School districts, schools, and other nonprofits have until May 12 to apply for the money, which will be paid out by the end of September.…Read More

Top 10 ed-tech stories of 2009: No. 4

Stimulus funds are flowing to educational technology programs.
Stimulus funds are flowing to educational technology programs.

The federal stimulus package approved by Congress in February included $650 million designated specifically for education technology. That doesn’t include billions more for other programs, such as Title I and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which could be used for school technology as well. All told, nearly $106 billion in stimulus dollars went to education.

The money came at a good time for schools, many of which had cut ed-tech spending as the economy tanked. School leaders were encouraged to use the stimulus funding to make one-time investments that could have lasting effects, such as using IDEA money to buy assistive technology (AT) devices for students, training students and staff members to use AT devices, and improving their data collection and reporting abilities.

The infusion of more federal money for education technology was welcomed by ed-tech advocacy groups, which had seen annual funding for the Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) program, the largest federal school technology initiative, dwindle during President Bush’s second term–from a high-water mark of $696 million in the 2004 fiscal year to $267 million in FY 2009.…Read More