FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 02.21.08

Contacts:
Stephen Wakefield , Discovery Education
240-662-2893
stephen_wakefield@discovery.com

Charlene Blohm, C. Blohm & Associates
608-839-9800
charlene@cblohm.com

Legal Settlement Funds Available for Educational Technology

Discovery Education streaming, Discovery Education Media Server available for purchase with vouchers in several states

Silver Spring, MD (Feb. 21, 2008) – As a result of the settlement of a class action lawsuit, educators in several states now have access to critical funding from the Microsoft Corporation for educational technology. Among the products available for purchase with these vouchers are Discovery Education’s flagship product, Discovery Education streaming and the Discovery Media Server. To date, 18 states and the District of Columbia have reached proposed settlements totaling over 2.5 billion dollars. In nearly every state, 50% of the unclaimed funds have been earmarked for school districts.

Although each state is handling the distribution of these funds differently, the majority of state agencies are providing districts with both a general purpose and software voucher to use towards approved purchases. While the def initions of vouchers may vary from state to state, in general they are as follows.

General Purpose Vouchers may be used for qualifying hardware purchases. This includes personal computers, laptop computers, Tablet PCs and Apple Macintosh computers. If the total amount of your voucher(s) is less than $950, you may also redeem your voucher(s) for the purchase of printers, monitors, scanners, keyboards, mice and other pointing devices. If the total amount of your voucher(s) is $950 or more, you may redeem your voucher(s) for the purchase of printers, monitors, scanners, keyboards, mice and other pointing devices only in connection with the purchase of a computer.

Software Vouchers may be used to purchase qualifying software which includes any software title which is available for sale to the general public in standard form and is capable of running on any qualifying hardware.

“As schools face growing budget challenges, finding alternative funding for educat ional technology purchases becomes vital,” said Scott Kinney, Discovery Education Vice President of Outreach and Professional Development and former Pennsylvania school administrator. “Through this program, administrators can access funds to purchase products like Discovery Education streaming, which has been scientifically proven to improve student achievement.”

For more information on how each state is handling the distribution of these settlement funds, call the below phone numbers or visit each state’s settlement website.