For almost 30 years, a program called E-Rate has helped pay for internet at public schools and libraries. It is the reason a rural school can get a real broadband connection and a small-town library can offer free Wi-Fi to anyone who walks in. It costs about $2.4 billion a year and it reaches schools and libraries in every state.
The Federal Communications Commission just opened a review that could shrink or end it. The chairman has questioned whether the program still serves its purpose, pointing to concerns about screen time. Those concerns are worth a real debate. But cutting the funding does not reduce screen time. It just takes connectivity away from the kids and communities that have the least.
This matters most for families without internet at home. A child who does homework on a library computer, or on a Wi-Fi hotspot their school lent them, is not the problem the chairman describes. They are the reason the program exists. Take the funding away and the homework gap gets wider, and it falls hardest on rural and low-income students.
The FCC is taking public comment on this review now. I am asking you to weigh in. Publicly defend E-Rate, press the FCC to keep funding internet for schools and libraries, including the hotspot lending that helps students get online at home, and use your oversight power to make sure this review does not quietly gut a program that works.
Kids cannot learn online if they cannot get online. Please protect E-Rate.
