Obama is apparently making progress in his campaign to get every schoolchild in America on the Internet, announcing $750 million in pledges from national companies to begin wiring classrooms, the Associated Press reports.
Tech giants Apple and Microsoft are making hefty contributions, with Apple promising $100 million in iPads, Macs and other equipment, and Microsoft offering its software at discounted prices, in addition to 12 million free copies of Microsoft Office.
The broadband and telecommunications companies are not to be left out, either. AT&T and Sprint are set to contribute free Internet service, while Verizon is throwing in another $100 million in cash and other donations.
"In a country where we expect free Wi-Fi with our coffee, we should definitely demand it in our schools," Obama said at a Maryland middle school, where students are given iPads for home and school use, the AP notes.
According to the AP, the president is using his momentum as an example of how to get things with or without a deadlocked Congress.
"We picked up the phone and we started asking some outstanding business leaders to help bring our schools and libraries into the 21st century," the president said.
And the president is not just depending on donations from outside groups. The Federal Communications Commission also has plans to set aside a hefty $2 billion from service fees to bring true high-speed Internet to 15,000 schools within the next two years.
Read more at the Associated Press.