Adam D. Thierer

In 1996 Congress approved the Telecommunications Act. One element of the act was the E-Rate (“education rate”) program, which provides schools and libraries with technology and telecommunications services at reduced prices. Funding for the program comes from taxes on phone bills. In the following viewpoint Adam D. Thierer argues that the federal government should reform what is an unnecessary and costly program. He opines that educational technology should not be funded by hidden taxes and that state and local governments should be responsible for such funding. According to Thierer, unless the George W. Bush administration significantly reforms the E-Rate program, the policy will become an ever-growing national entitlement. Thierer is the director of telecommunications studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

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1. Which entity originally administered the...