TWO UPCOMING CONFERENCES ON E-RATE IMPLEMENTATION FOR SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES

Free Satellite Teleconference on E-Rate Implementation
Scheduled for March 4, 2-3:30 ET

The Schools and Libraries Corporation in conjunction with the Virginia Department of Education and The Virginia Satellite Educational Network will present a live satellite teleconference on Universal Service (E-Rate) Implementation on March 4, 1998 from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. eastern time.

This teleconference is offered FREE to schools and libraries in the United States.

Mickey Revenaugh and other Schools and Libraries Corporation staff will be joined by Jim Calleran and Greg Weisiger of the Virginia Department of Education to discuss implementation issues for the Universal Service program. The teleconference will include an up-to-the-minute program update (including implications of the FCC's Fourth Reconsideration Order) and a briefing on Forms 471 and 486.

This program will originate LIVE from the studios of Varina High School, Henrico County, Virginia, and be broadcast on C-Band satellite:

Galaxy 6 (74 degrees west), Channel 21 (4120 Mhz), Test time: 1:45 p.m. eastern time, Program: 2:00-3:30 p.m. eastern time

Like the Department's December 11 teleconference on forms 470 and 471, questions from viewers will be taken during the program.

For more information, E-mail Greg Weisiger at: gweisige@pen.k12.va.us

PBS to Distribute Interactive Videoconference on Local Implementation of New Telecommunications Discounts for Schools and Libraries

"E-Rate: the Implementation," a live and interactive program to air March 26 from 1:00-2:30 p.m. ET, will provide education administrators and technologists with guidelines for securing their part of the $2.25 billion in discounts on telecommunications services, established by the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Based on lessons to be learned from during the first round of discounted procurements in early 1998, the program will examine strategies for achieving the greatest cost reduction through aggregation of demand. It will also explore strategies for bundling discounts with other "ed-tech" funding sources, such as the new National Technology Literacy Program. In short, it will help ensure that educational institutions and libraries receive the maximum discounts to which they are entitled.

This videoconference couldn't happen at more opportune time. Although the FCC and its E-Rate administrator, the Schools and Libraries Corporation (SLC), hoped to have the program in place by this fall, the paperwork and administrative processes were just finalized this month. Many questions on eligible equipment and consortia may not be definitively answered until well into the year. By the March program, all the questions should be laid to rest and all administrative procedures should be well defined. Educators and technology planners will find out what kinds of service have been requested, how much of the fund has been committed and what can be learned from the first months of the program.

Panelists will include Ira Fishman, SLC CEO, SLC Chairman K.G. Ouye, SLC board member Brian Talbott, and Cheryl Lemke, Vice President for Educational Technology at the Milken Family Foundation.

"E-Rate: the Implementation" follows-up on the hugely successful PBS broadcast "Maximizing Your E-Rate," produced by Convergence Services in June, 1997. That program was licensed and downlinked at nearly 1000 viewing sites across the U.S.

Convergence Services, Inc., is an Alexandria, VA-based consulting firm that specializes in helping plan, fund, and gain legislative support for educational technology programs around the nation. The company has produced three videoconferences in association with PBS, two of which enjoyed the highest licensing pick-up of their seasons.

For information on licensing downlinks for E-Rate: the Implementation or locating licensed viewing sites, contact local public television stations or call PBS Customer Service at (800) 257-2578, or visit the PBS website at www.pbs.org/learn/als/programs/live/erate2