FCC approves E-Rate expansion to include off-premises internet services
The Federal Communications Commission voted along party lines Thursday to approve expansion of its E-Rate program, allowing schools and libraries to apply for subsidies for internet services to be used outside of their premises.
The vote, which follows a notice of proposed rulemaking the FCC published in January, expands the discount program to include internet services that extend beyond institutions’ brick and mortar buildings, such as through the loan of Wi-Fi hotspots.
FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, said that discounting such services is necessary to ensure students can continue learning remotely and that internet access is made available in underserved communities.
The changes include a new limit on the amount of financial support applicants can receive over a three-year period, and they call for new safeguards to ensure that Wi-Fi hotspots and other services are used for educational purposes.
The changes also stipulate that applicants comply with the Children’s Internet Protection Act, a 2000 law designed to protect children from exposure to obscene or harmful content online.
The E-Rate program supplies subsidies on internet services and information technology offerings of 20-90%, depending on factors such as income level and whether the services are being offered in rural or urban areas.
John Harrington, chief executive of Funds for Learning, an educational consultant that helps organizations meet compliance requirements to receive E-Rate funding, on Thursday commended the approving votes.
“Learning extends outside the classroom or library to homes, while on the go, and in every community space,” he said in a statement. “This move empowers schools and libraries to bridge the homework gap, providing students with the resources they need to succeed academically, regardless of their socioeconomic status or geographical location.”
Support for E-Rate, a program administered by the nonprofit Universal Service Administrative Company, received a boost during the COVID-19 pandemic, when calls for social distancing and widespread remote learning spotlighted gaps in the availability of devices and internet service across the United States.
In a survey conducted by Funds for Learning last year, 74% of respondents said they believed that insufficient internet access in the homes of students or at libraries is a “significant issue.”
The commission’s Democrats — Rosenworcel, Geoffrey Starks and Anna Gomez — approved the changes, with FCC Republicans Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington dissenting.
Simington called the changes “unlawful,” noting in statement that the Telecommunications Act stipulates that E-Rate must be used only to subsidize the costs of internet connectivity inside school classrooms and libraries.
“[A] school bus is neither a school classroom nor a library,” he wrote. “This item eviscerates Congress’s restrictions on E-Rate and makes a mockery of the law. If Congress had meant for E-Rate to apply to any educational purpose, broadly defined, it would have said so.”
Simington suggested the FCC instead pursue reforms of E-Rate that would combat waste, fraud and abuse, and that it simplify the program’s administration, including through the creation of a federally run competitive bidding website.
