HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec. 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The state is awarding $10 million in grants to help connect all Pennsylvania intermediate units and school districts to one another and to the Internet with high-speed technology, Governor Edward G. Rendell announced today.
The grants, funded through the Educational Technology Fund, or E-Fund, strengthen the Governor's commitment to improving educational opportunities in schools by expanding schools' access to technology.
"In this evolving global economy, it is essential that Pennsylvania's students have access to the necessary tools to develop in-demand skills," Governor Rendell said. "We must ensure that all of our schools have a quality telecommunications infrastructure so that they can transform classrooms into the learning environments of the future."
More than $3 million in 2007-08 broadband connectivity grants, which are used to boost broadband Internet capacity and to develop technological infrastructure to provide opportunities for economic growth, are being awarded to eight consortiums. Additionally, more than $6 million in grants will be used to continue eight multi-year projects started during the past two years of the E-Fund grant.
Chester County Intermediate Unit 24 leads a consortium of all 29 intermediate units. It will use the funding to implement the high-speed broadband connection to all of the commonwealth's intermediate units, 501 school districts, career and technical centers and area vocational technical schools. This will help ensure every Pennsylvania student has access to these essential tools.
"By providing Internet access in the classroom, the E-Fund has helped transform the way teachers teach and students learn," said Education Secretary Gerald L. Zahorchak. "This program also supports many of Governor Rendell's other initiatives that are preparing our students to compete in a global economy."
Governor Rendell signed Act 183 in 2004, establishing the E-Fund to help school districts without access to high-speed Internet purchase quality broadband access and service. E-Fund grants, funded by Pennsylvania's telecommunications industry, will be available until 2011 to help schools acquire telecommunications services, hardware, and technical assistance and provide distance education.
From 2005 to 2007, 466 educational entities benefited from $20 million in E-Fund grants. It is estimated that an additional $30 million will be awarded to help continue the expansion over the next three years.
Grant recipients are encouraged to provide connectivity to large geographic areas that have low speed or no connectivity by forming consortiums to leverage costs and services or to provide distance-learning resources and quality professional development.
The E-Fund grants complement Governor Rendell's Classrooms for the Future initiative. The current state budget allocated $90 million this fiscal year to provide 255 additional high schools with 83,000 laptop computers and related equipment. It also invested $11 million to provide high quality professional development to 12,100 teachers in new Classrooms for the Future high schools. Now in its second year, Classrooms for the Future has reached 358 high schools, distributed 99,000 laptops and has provided 13,300 teachers with professional development.
For more information about the E-Fund, visit the Pennsylvania Department of Education at http://www.pde.state.pa.us/Act183.
The Rendell administration is committed to creating a first-rate public education system, protecting our most vulnerable citizens and continuing economic investment to support our communities and businesses. To find out more about Governor Rendell's initiatives and to sign up for his weekly newsletter, visit his Web site at: http://www.governor.state.pa.us/.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Attached is the list of 2006-07 E-Fund Grant Recipients, including the continuing multi-year 2006-07 grants.
2007-08 E-Fund Grants
Recipients Amount
Awarded:
Allegheny County Intermediate Unit 3 Consortium $647,417
Chester County Intermediate Unit 24 Consortium $1,133,411
Intermediate Unit 1 Consortium $46,360
Beaver Valley Intermediate Unit 27 Consortium $319,208
Montgomery County Intermediate Unit 23 $356,281
Midwestern Intermediate Unit 4 Consortium $375,483
Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit 16 Consortium $306,525
Monessen SD Consortium $328,585
Totals $3,513,270
Continuing Multi-Year 2006-07 Grants
Recipients Amount
Awarded:
Tuscarora IU 11 Consortium $357,533
Riverview IU 6 Consortium $1,931,504
Lancaster-Lebanon IU 13 Consortium $405,529
Bucks County IU 22 Consortium $442,907
Delaware County IU 25 Consortium $100,000
Totals $3,237,473
Continuing Multi-Year 2005-06 Grants
Recipients Amount
Awarded:
Beaver Valley Intermediate Unit 27 Consortium $300,800
Berks County Intermediate Unit 14 Consortium $315,480
BLaST Intermediate Unit 17 Consortium $633,237
Colonial Intermediate Unit 20 Consortium $681,316
Lincoln Intermediate Unit 12 Consortium $267,231
Schuylkill Intermediate Unit 29 Consortium $101,000
Seneca Highlands Intermediate Unit 9 Consortium $740,193
Totals $3,039,257
Pennsylvania Office of the Governor
