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The District is concerned about a push by Verizon, AT&T Inc. and others to nationalize video franchising, allowing telephone companies to enter the cable television market without obtaining local franchises, as cable operators must. This legislation is being advanced by Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas). The school district concurs with the views of local governments in requesting that telephone companies be required to play by the same cable television rules that have served local communities well for over thirty years.
Local governments welcome the competition, but also continue to want rights of way control, the ability to protect consumer rights on a local level, and, most importantly for school districts, the ability to negotiate segregated funds for local public, education, and government access stations, which enable local residents, local governments, and school districts to use a few cable television channels to speak to their communities.
National franchising creates a one-size-fits-all structure that undermines the ability of localities to make telecommunications meet its particular needs and interests. Drafts of these bills also do away with "universal service" requirements, allowing phone companies to "cherry-pick" the most lucrative parts of a community, and offer greater services to wealthier areas.
For school districts, whose mandate is to provide equal opportunities for all students, it is of particular concern that some of our students would be denied more sophisticated data services simply because of the location of their home. With telecommunication services becoming more integral to the business of public education, this is simply unacceptable. Please oppose these bills and support long-held principles of telecommunications law and regulation that has always valued local control, local speech, and universal service.
April, 2006