TO FORM A MORE CONNECTED UNION: The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has launched a petition on We The People, asking the government to "invest in school broadband connectivity to ensure our students graduate equipped for success." The petition doesn't go into much detail about how much money is needed, only stating that "even the successful E-Rate program cannot meet rapidly escalating school needs for increased bandwidth." With only 803 signatures at the time of writing, there's quite a ways to go before it hits the 100,000 mark for an official White House response. Sean Cavanaugh at Education Week is a little skeptical of its impact on shaping federal policymakers' views, though some have already called for E-rate reform. We anticipate any reply to include efforts from folks at Digital Promise, Connect2Compete and EducationSuperHighway who are in the trenches, errr...schools, to tackle this very thorny problem. (Learn more about EducationSuperhighway's plans here.)
