The fate of E-rate, which provides billions of dollars each year for high-speed Internet access at schools and libraries, is uncertain due to political shifts at the FCC, as well as legal and congressional challenges.
Leading the workshop to explain how and where to focus E-rate advocacy efforts, Sheryl Abshire, former CoSN chair and one of the workshop speakers, said school leaders can no longer take E-rate for granted and must actively fight for its existence. The first step in that fight, she said, is reaching out to members of Congress and the commissioners of the FCC via social media, phone, email or mail to let them know the importance of E-rate for student learning.
Abshire also asked that workshop participants join and spread the word about CoSN's EdTech Advocacy and Policy Summit, to be held May 6 in Washington, D.C. During the event, she said, K-12 staff members will be able to tell their state lawmakers in person why it’s vital to keep E-rate up and running.
“Every year we have a fly-in to D.C. where you’re able to meet with your senators and congressmen, and it couldn’t be more critical this year,” she said. “The last few years, we haven’t had that many people. If there’s ever a time when you think you ought to go, it’s this year.”
Another way ed-tech leaders can help advocate for E-rate is to fill out an annual survey on the program conducted by consulting firm Funds For Learning, according to the firm’s CEO John Harrington, a member of CoSN's board who also spoke Tuesday.
“Each year Funds For Learning produces an E-rate trends report. That is a survey of all of the E-rate applicants, and we submit that survey to the FCC and to Congress,” Harrington said. “Last year, 11 percent of all applicants — 1 in 9 applicants — participated. It’s very important that you make your voice heard.”
CoSN’s outside counsel and lobbyist Reg Leichty rounded out the workshop by asking participants to focus on the most pressing threat to E-rate, which he said is a congressional resolution that could permanently end new E-rate funding for Wi-Fi hot spots, which schools loan to students who lack Internet access at home.
“Sen. [Ted] Cruz has filed what’s called a disapproval resolution. If that goes through, the mobile hot spots will be pulled off the E-rate eligible services list, but here’s the kicker: The FCC will not be able to regulate on that topic again,” Leichty said. “Once Congress sweeps it away, a future FCC cannot go back and add mobile hot spots. It’s one thing for the FCC to do it by rule-making, which could still happen if Sen. Cruz is unsuccessful, but it’s a more permanent, lasting change if Congress steps in.”
CoSN is hosting an online petition against this congressional resolution, stating that it would leave “many students — especially those in rural and low-income communities — without access to essential online learning resources.” Leichty said he encourages as many people as possible to go online and sign that petition.
He added that E-rate legislative decisions are made by the House and Senate commerce committees, so anyone who lives in a state represented by a member of these committees can have an “outsize influence” on the process of supporting E-rate by reaching out to those lawmakers.
“We can win these fights,” Leichty said. “We can beat these guys back on anything they try to do to E-rate — but we need your help to do it.”
