Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 11, 1995 TAG: 9508110029
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER
DATELINE: HILLSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Boucher had asked the Rural Utilities Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, for $160,000 to aid the schools. They will be linked to schools in Washington County and the city of Bristol that already are online.
The money will also cover extending the network to Dickenson County Vocational School, which is already tied to sites in Lee, Russell and Wise counties, he said. It is being provided as a grant to the Southwest Virginia Education and Training Network Inc., a nonprofit organization set up to manage the fiber-optic network.
Carroll, Smyth and Dickenson counties will pay $74,633 in matching cash and in-kind contributions.
The concept of linking all 83 high schools, community colleges and four-year colleges in the 9th District grew out of Boucher's task force of educators and telephone company representatives, which he convened three years ago to plan electronic distance-learning classrooms.
He said the project could help ease funding disparities between wealthy and poor school districts.
"While numerous additional measures including increased state funding will be necessary to eliminate fully the educational funding disparities," he said, "the creation of our distance-learning network is a positive first step in addressing the problem."
When schools open this fall, he said, 21 schools will have electronic classrooms and be part of the distance-learning network. By early 1996, the number will go to 25, including those he announced Wednesday.
by CNB