Community Anchor Institutions

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the consolidated cases Nos.

Lawyers defending the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to manage a longstanding $8.1 billion broadband subsidy expressed cautious optimism ahead of the March 26 Supreme Court oral arguments in FCC v.

The layoffs of staff serving in the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology are a profound loss for the nation’s education system. For over 30 years, OET provided essential leadership in shaping ed-tech policy, guiding practice and fostering innovation.

Community anchor institutions (CAIs)—such as schools, libraries, community health centers, and similar organizations—play a crucial role in offering free or affordable internet access to underserved communities. In many areas, the connectivity options offered by CAIs—whether on-site (via wired or wireless networks) or through remote programs like hotspot lending—are among the few affordable and reliable services available.

When severe weather prevented Bullitt County (KY) students from attending school full time, a crucial library hotspot lending program kept 30 percent of them connected to their studies. These students would otherwise have had no access to virtual learning from their homes. This same program helps local farmers ensure the wellbeing of their livestock.

Federal law seeks to make communications technology like telephones and the internet, in the words of one older statute, “available, so far as possible, to all the people of the United States.” A longstanding federal program that seeks to implement this goal is now before the Supreme Court, in a case known as FCC v. Consumers’ Research, and the stakes could be enormous.

The New Mexico state Senate passed SB 401, the Broadband for Education bill, by a vote of 23 to 6. The Broadband for Education bill would transfer the Statewide Education Network (SEN) from the Public School Facilities Authority to the Office of Broadband Access and Expansion. The legislation would move all SEN staff, funds, projects and operations to the state’s broadband office.

The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition commends the Federal Communications Commission for granting a 60-day extension of the Funding Year 2025 Rural Health Care Program application filing window, moving the deadline from April 1, 2025, to June 2, 2025.

The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Managing Director (OMD) announces that the proposed universal service contribution factor for the second quarter of 2025 will be 0.366 or 36.6 percent. Contributions to the federal universal service support mechanisms are determined using a quarterly contribution factor calculated by the FCC. The FCC calculates the quarterly contribution factor based on the ratio of total projected quarterly costs of the universal service support mechanisms to contributors’ total projected collected end-user interstate and international telecommunications re

The Consortium for School Networking is alarmed by the Administration’s decision to eliminate the staff of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology and significantly reduce cybersecurity services that protect K-12 schools. These actions threaten the progress of digital learning, widen inequities in student access to technology and expose school districts to increased cybersecurity risks. Educators across the country rely on the federal government’s technical assistance and guidance to navigate the opportunities and challenges of educational technology.