ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 10, 1997 TAG: 9702100132
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
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?''
But 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).
LENGTH: Medium: 54 linesby CNB