Joseph Wender

It is disheartening and surprising that the Commission in the current proceeding asks questions that run directly counter to the goals of universal service and Congress’s directives. While most of the country and world are racing ahead to prepare for the future facing our nation’s citizens and students, the Commission is asking whether it should shelve or significantly reduce the E-Rate program, which is the financial pillar supporting most schools’ and libraries’ digital connections. The statute provides the Commission no authority to do so.

The stakes for schools, libraries, and health clinics could not be higher. Last year, the Supreme Court delivered us a historic victory in SHLB v. Consumers’ Research when the Court confirmed that the Universal Service Fund, a bipartisan program with a three-decade-long record of connecting communities across rural and urban America, is constitutional. Today we made sure the Fifth Circuit heard from the anchor institutions and the people who depend on this funding to serve their communities.

The Federal Communications Commission released a draft proposal that should alarm schools and libraries around the country. Tucked inside a long document is a direct question: should the E-Rate program be “limited or sunset”? When E-Rate began in the late 1990s, most schools and libraries had little or no internet access.

The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition and the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society have submitted a letter to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration urging the agency to provide states with broad deference and expansive flexibility to determine which locations qualify as a community anchor institution under the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.