WASHINGTON – The Maine School and Library Network has been awarded $3,190,104 in funding discounts under the E-Rate program, which U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe of Maine and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia wrote as part of the 1996 Telecommunications Act.

SAD 77, which comprises the towns of Cutler, East Machias, Machiasport and Whiting, also was awarded $4,020.

Friday’s announcement was part of the fifth year of E-Rate funding for schools and libraries in Maine and nationally during the coming months. Since the program began in 1998, Maine has received more than $25 million, according to Snowe.

“Maine schools and libraries are improving their telecommunications options and access to the Internet with this support,” said Snowe, a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which wrote the telecommunications reform law.

E-Rate provides discounts of between 20 percent and 90 percent to schools and libraries – depending on their resources and needs – for the cost of education technology. The discounts cover the cost of telecommunications, Internet access, and internal connections needed to bring information directly into classrooms and libraries.

“Students attending the schools, or utilizing libraries, receiving funding today will have greater access to research, a better understanding of technology, and will ultimately be better prepared for their future,” said Snowe.