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Lt. Governor Pat Quinn urges passage of Children's Low-Cost Laptop Act



Lt. Governor Pat Quinn urges passage of Children's Low-Cost Laptop Act, salutes District 91 for working to bridge the digital divide

FOREST PARK - On March 10, 2008. Only four days after the Children's Low-Cost Laptop Act passed unanimously out of committee - Lt. Governor Pat Quinn joined with local officials and community leaders to urge lawmakers to quickly make the laptop learning initiative law.

The Children's Low-Cost Laptop Act (HB 5000), sponsored by Reps. Cynthia Soto (D-Chicago), Connie Howard (D-Chicago), LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago), Ruth Munson (R-Elgin), Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) and Sen. Michael Bond (D-Grayslake) will establish a statewide program to provide elementary school students in up to 300 schools with low-cost laptop computers for academic use. All elementary schools and school districts in Illinois would have the opportunity to submit an application for laptop funding.

"Laptops are the textbooks of tomorrow, and no Illinois child should be left on the wrong side of the digital divide," Quinn said. "We want to quickly pass the Children's Low-Cost Laptop Act, and we want to salute innovative thinkers like Superintendent Louis Cavallo and all of Forest Park Public School District 91 for taking matters into their own hands and helping to bridge the digital divide."

Forest Park Public School District 91 recently purchased 100 XO laptops to equip all of the district's fifth grade classrooms. And because District 91 took advantage of a limited time offer, the 100 XO laptops purchased for Forest Park fifth graders will be matched by 100 laptops for children in emerging nations thanks to the One Laptop Per Child "Give 1 Get 1" promotion.

The XO laptop is a compact, durable, energy-efficient machine created especially for children to enjoy laptop learning at its best. The low-cost, ENERGY STAR qualified XO laptop consumes just one-tenth of the electricity that a typical laptop uses.

Quinn will be joined by Rep. Connie Howard (D-Chicago); Rep. Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood); Village of Forest Park Commissioner Rory Hoskins; Village of Forest Park Mayor Anthony Calderone; Superintendent of Forest Park Schools Louis Cavallo; and School Board President Glenn Garlisch.

As chairman of the Broadband Deployment Council, Quinn is actively involved in improving high-speed Internet access for all Illinois residents. In 2006, Quinn partnered with the Illinois State Board of Education to implement the Technology Immersion Pilot Project, which provided nearly five thousand students in 17 Illinois schools with laptops or tablet PCs during the first two years of the program.

For more information about the Broadband Deployment Council or One Laptop Per Child, please visit IllinoisConnect.org.