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Clinton grants $200 million to improve Å’technol

By Daily Bruin Staff

Feb. 9, 1997 9:00 p.m.

Monday, February 10, 1997

BUDGET:

Proposed 1998 fiscal plan raises funding to $500 million for
computers, InternetBy Sandra Sobieraj

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Clinton released Saturday the first of a
$200 million program of grants to provide schools with computers
and Internet training.

"That’s how we must prepare our children for the 21st century
­ with the full promise of the Information Age at their
fingertips," Clinton said in announcing the first wave of grants by
the Education Department.

In his weekly radio address, the president touted new data
showing that 65 percent of schools were connected to the Internet
as of last fall, compared with 35 percent in 1994. "We are making a
lot of progress," he said.

But the Education Department survey of more than 900 public
schools also found that just one in five teachers used advanced
telecommunications, and only 13 percent of public schools required
teacher training in the technology.

Schools with the highest concentration of poverty and those in
the most rural areas are also lagging far behind in computer
access, the survey found.

The new "technology literacy" grants, which are expected to fund
programs in each of the 50 states by year’s end, target
disadvantaged school districts.

Illinois, Mississippi and New Mexico will share the first
installment of federal funds ­ a total of $14.3 million ­
to buy classroom computers, provide Internet access and train
teachers to use it.

The fiscal 1998 budget plan that Clinton released last week
would increase funds for the program from $200 million to $500
million, making it a $2 billion project over five years.

Clinton and Vice President Al Gore, who joined in Saturday’s
broadcast, said they were making good on a campaign pledge last
March to help wire every American classroom and library to the
Internet by 2000 and put every American student on the "Information
Superhighway."

The president also used the radio chat to plug his $51 billion
education budget, which congressional Republicans immediately
questioned as excessively bureaucratic.

Oklahoma Sen. Don Nickles noted in the GOP radio broadcast that
there are 760 federal education programs already ­ 32 on
literacy alone. "These ideas sound good," said Nickles. But, he
added, "rather than creating new programs, shouldn’t we focus on
fixing what isn’t working now?"

A CNN/Time survey released Saturday suggested the president had
public opinion on his side: 34 percent of respondents said
education should be Clinton’s highest second-term priority ­
higher than a balanced budget (28 percent), health care costs (17
percent), Social Security (13 percent) or campaign finance reform
(3 percent).

The Feb. 5-6 survey of 1,012 adults also gave Clinton an overall
approval rating of 62 percent.

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