HIT: Government Internet Access

[Linda Greenwood <Greenwoodl@AOL.COM>]

Sorry it has taken me so long to post this hit.  I received 32 responses to
my request for information on free or inexpensive Internet access for
educators or schools provided by local or state government.  Most of the
state Internet services are text based. In New Jersey,  we have NJLink which
is a free text based service provided to educators.  The service has been
plagued by problems, but still provides an easy access to the Internet for
teachers who do not have a computer at home and are interested in learning
about it.  I feel NJLink has serves an important service to the educators in
the state and is needed.  Thank you to all of you that took the time to
respond to the question.

Here is a summary of the responses that I received:

Arkansas:  Free access is provided through the University of Arkansas for all
educators and schools in the NW section of the state.

California:  Teachers in the Chico Unified Schools has free dial-up access.
  In the Los Angeles Unified School district, LAUSDnet provides  free access
with an 800 number.
San Mateo offers free access through the county office.  An 800 number is not
available.

Delaware:  Interent access is free through the Office of Telecommunications
Management.

Illinois:  Teachers are provided free access via an 800 number.  Since lines
are limited, this is only for staff.

Maryland:  SAILOR, a library project, provides free local access through the
public library system.

Massachusetts:  Massachusetts Education On-line (MEOL), text based, provides
free 20 hours a month for each principal, tech facilitator of each school.
 If a school has more than 500 students, another account is given.

Missouri:  The Dept. of Education provides MoreNet for all public, academic
and school libraries for a fee.

Nebraska:  Free access is available through ESU's.

North Carolina:  Learning Link, an 800 number text based service, is
available to the schools.

North Dakota:  SENDIT is available through one of the universities.  Since
only 200 logins can be taken at once, limits are placed on the length of time
online and the number of times the system is accessed.

Ohio:  The state is divided into A-sites.  Several favorable responses came
from the North West Ohio Computer Association (NWOCA) which has access
through the vocational school.  The responses were in conflict  on the cost
of the service.

Oregon:  The Educational Service District provides Internet access which is
not standard throughout the state.

Tennessee:  The State Dept. of Education provides free text based access from
a local or 800 number. Graphics will soon be available.  Teachers can obtain
an account if they attend an approved training course.

Texas:  The Texas Education Agency provides access to TENET for all educators
($5).
Netscape is expected to be available soon.

Utah:  All schools are provided with free direct access.

Virginia:  Virginia Pen is free to educators and schools, but the lines are
often busy.

West Virginia:  Bell Atlantic is providing access for all schools where their
service is available until December 1996.

Australia:  Chris Skrzeczynski reports that Australian schools must find
their own commercial provider and pay for the service.  This has left many
schools in rural areas without access to the Internet.

Linda Greenwood
Manchester Twp. High School
Lakehurst, NJ  08733
greenwoodl@aol.com
lgreenwo@njlink.pppl.gov