Betsy Corcoran

Amidst a sea of suits, Melissa Dodd, Chief Technology Officer of San Francisco Unified School District, became the second woman named as the top CTO of the year by the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN). Most provocative was Tom Wheeler, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, who CoSN lauded for his public service.

Wheeler shared his pride in helping oversee the changes the FCC made in managing E-rate, the program that funds internet connectivity to schools. "Remember your ABCs: Access benefits children," Wheeler said. He also shared his fears about the current FCC's directions, particularly the impact of moving to a per-pupil reimbursement policy. Here's what Wheeler proposed the current FCC ask:
1. What will be the impact of per-pupil reimbursement on rural schools? Urban areas typically have four times as many students as their rural counterparts.
2. How will per-pupil reimbursement affect fiber installation? About 3,700 U.S. schools still lack adequate bandwidth, Wheeler pointed out, and need fiber.
3. How will the administration continue to incentivize states to step up and support connectivity? Forty-two state governors have made connecting schools a priority. States have provided $200 million in matching funds to support the work. But if the federal government scales back, will states continue to step up?
4. What kind of fiscal deficit will the FCC's new policy create, especially for rural schools?

[Commentary] The wheels of school bureaucracies may seem creaky and slow -- but so, too, it turns out, are those of corporate America. In February, President Obama announced with some fanfare that he had rounded up technology donations worth more than a $1 billion from US corporations for schools as part of the government’s ConnectED initiative.

To be part of the initiative, companies had to commit to providing goods or services worth at least $100 million. Yet four months later, some of the companies that proudly made those pledges have yet to identify how schools or teachers can apply for the products and services. If schools don’t know when they can apply, they can’t incorporate these materials into significant instruction plans. That makes the donations “nice to have” -- but sadly limits the impact that they have on students and learning.