Sixty-six Southeastern U.S. school superintendents have just found out they can afford to learn more about technology, as BellSouth's two-year, $10 million edu.pwr3 (pronounced ed-joo-power) initiative announced grantees for the program's first phase.

The "Power to Lead" grants totaled $800,000, giving each superintendent an average grant of $12,000. The grants are to be used to supplement their own technology training to help them integrate technology into their school districts.

"Power to Lead" is only the first phase of edu.pwr3, which will benefit states in BellSouth's service area. The second phase, "Power to Teach," will give grants to school districts, state departments and other teacher-training organizations to train teachers to integrate Internet, interactive audio and video, and other technologies into the curriculum.

The final phase, "Power to Learn," will fund demonstration projects for three to five schools to show the impact technology can have for school improvement.

The grants are being made through the BellSouth Foundation and can be applied for through the edu.pwr3 site.