February 2014

A majority of American adults rate the current state of technology in US public schools with a mediocre C grade or worse and fully support the implementation of better access to high-speed Internet in classrooms to help improve that grade, according to a poll conducted by the LEAD Commission and Benenson Strategy Group.

Both parents and nonparents believe the current lack of access to acceptable technology renders students unprepared to compete on a global scale or obtain the necessary technology skills to succeed in 21st century jobs. Investing in high-speed Internet access for public schools is believed to be mandatory in helping develop the next generation of innovative leaders in the United States, according to the report. There is a concern that American students will continue to fall behind children in other countries, especially those in rural areas, if this does not change soon. Most notably, respondents to the poll still supported expanding broadband access after they were told they would have to pay out of pocket to support the program through a temporary fee charged through their cellphones (users would pay roughly $4 a year for three years.)

[Commentary] Silicon Valley is booming. Job growth is so strong that the recession is a distant memory. Average incomes are up, and the levitation of technology stocks and a pipeline of initial public offerings promise more wealth to come. “The economy is sizzling, any way you slice it, and about to get hotter,” said Russell Hancock, the chief executive officer of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a policy organization focused on regional issues. And yet divisions within the region are growing.

Fewer than half of first-time home buyers can afford to purchase a median-priced home, and rents are increasing faster than incomes, especially for the middle class. While whites and Asians are making more money, blacks and Latinos are falling further behind. Men with a college degree or higher make 40 to 73 percent more than women with the same levels of education. One-third of children in third grade can’t read at their proficiency level. Native-born Americans find the region increasingly inhospitable and steadily leave, even as immigrants find it irresistible and keep arriving. “We’ve become two valleys: a valley of haves and a valley of have-nots,” Hancock said. Sadly, the report’s findings are largely consistent over time. Every year, the index shows vast gaps between the rich and poor, the educated and non-educated, the native-born and immigrants. Every year, Silicon Valley’s leaders bemoan the lack of public infrastructure, the shortage of housing and the failure of the region’s leaders to work together for the greater good. Marc Benioff, the co-founder and chief executive of Salesforce.com, said that tech companies have a responsibility to give back more to the communities in which they operate to solve pervasive problems like homelessness and transit.

[Commentary] While E-Rate has been pretty effective at connecting most schools to basic Internet, the Federal Communications Commission estimates only half of the program's funds actually go to high-speed broadband. Around 45 percent of schools and libraries say their connection speeds are too slow; 39 percent say the price of Internet prevents them from upgrading. E-Rate's newest push aims to fix that by installing 100 Mbps connections in educational facilities nationwide. Some of this entails ending E-Rate discounts for outdated technologies like dial-up connections, but it also means a potential change in how E-Rate funds are disbursed. Last year, FCC Commissioner Pai suggested moving to a per-pupil approach where the amount of money a school might receive would be tied to the size of its student body. The idea has attracted criticism from experts who say the costs of Internet access scale differently compared to books or desks. For his part, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has pledged to take a "business-like approach" to tweaking E-Rate, streamlining the application process for funds and taking other steps to make it better managed and more efficient. But whatever the program looks like in the future, broadband seems likely to play a dominant role.

[Commentary] Around the world, sector-specific regulation of communications markets is being phased out. This shift away from sector-specific regulation seems most appropriate in markets that are defined by dynamic innovation and some measurable degree of competition -- the reason for this being that the cost of making a Type I error are higher (stopping or slowing procompetitive innovation), but the cost of making a Type II error is lower (because these errors can often be mitigated by natural market forces or standard antitrust law) in competitive markets. In the view of the particular European governments discussed in this post by Roslyn Layton, Internet consumers are best protected when government minimizes Type I errors even if this means Type II errors might increase in the short-run. The view that Type I and Type II errors should be considered by regulators has been echoed by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler.

This claim raises two questions:

1. To what extent is FCC jurisdiction limited and
2. Would Title II really assist consumers?

[Boliek is an associate professor of law at Pepperdine University School of Law]