In their 1989 report to the Colorado General Assembly, the Colorado Telecommunications Advisory Commission expressed the widely held belief that regardless of where they live, all Colorodans deserve and can benefit from a statewide telecommunications infrastructure connecting all Colorado schools, libraries, institutions of higher education and government offices with each other and with the rest of the world, providing access to local and remote instructional programs and information resources. This document focuses on benefits of telecommunications technologies in the K-12 setting. It lists barriers that these technologies can help staff and learners overcome and identifies ways technology can enhance education by providing: flexibility for individual needs; immediate access; new and relevant presentation modes; ways to motivate students; ability to enhance learning for students with disabilities; opportunity for analytical and divergent thinking; encouragement for teachers to take a fresh look at how they teach and ways in which students learn; well-designed, meaningful tasks and activities; and the potential for effective group work across distances. The document provides examples of how interactive telecommunications technologies are enabling remote learners in Colorado to have access to resources and instruction, and how telecommunications networks can provide school districts, schools, administrators, teachers, and other staff with multiple opportunities to increase efficiencies. The use of other business applications to greatly reduce amount of time and effort required to accomplish current and future tasks is also identified. (AEF)