This booklet focuses on issues that schools encounter as they become involved with distance education and electronic networking. The E-Rate (i.e., the Education Rate resulting from the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996) is discussed in the introduction. Five sections cover the following topics: (1) distance education and electronic networking, including new ways of thinking and forms of distance education; (2) policy issues and roles, including federal, state, and local roles and emerging issues; (3) school principals and the policy issues; (4) federal action on technology and reform, including technical assistance; and (5) planning and policy making, including planning strategies, partnering strategies, working with regional consortia, and working with vendors, contractors, and consultants. An annotated list of 18 print and electronic resources is provided. (Contains 25 references.) (DLS)