Alabama Gov. Bob Riley visited students at a high school in Montgomery on Thursday, but he and the students got to take part in classes being taught as far away as Sylacauga and Hazel Green thanks to distance learning technology the Governor hopes to put in more schools throughout the state.

In his 2005 State of the State Address, Governor Riley announced a new distance learning initiative for schools - ACCESS (Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators and Students Statewide) -- and he proposed an education budget that includes $10 million to get the program started.

"No child should be denied the opportunity to take a class simply because of where their school is located," Governor Riley said. "Yet today, many schools aren't able to offer classes in foreign languages or advanced math and science. Through ACCESS, we can use existing technology in our schools to open up a world of new opportunities for our kids."

The program would be especially beneficial to students in Alabama's rural communities. The enrollment levels of many of these schools preclude them from being able to hire, for example, a foreign language teacher or advanced physics teacher, because not enough students would take the course.

"But with distance learning technology, we'll be able to connect teachers and students across the state and potentially anywhere in the world," the Governor said. "So students in rural areas who do want to take advanced science or math, Advanced Placement courses and foreign languages will have that opportunity. The technology is there. We just have to make a commitment to fund it and put it to work for our students and teachers."

At Brewbaker Technology Magnet High School in Montgomery, Governor Riley viewed actual classes being taught live from Sylacauga and Hazel Green using videoconference technology and the Internet. The Governor and students watched a teacher at B.B. Comer High School in the Talladega County School System use distance learning technology to teach Spanish to students at other schools and a teacher at Hazel Green High School in the Madison County School System teach French to students at other schools.