LOCALIZE IT: An FCC program helps fund broadband at schools, libraries. How has your state used it?

EDITORS/NEWS DIRECTORS:

A federal subsidy that helped 23 million families afford the cost of high-speed internet expired in June. To blunt some of the impact, the Biden administration moved to extend an existing federal program to help schools and libraries loan Wi-Fi hotspots to students and patrons next year.

The Federal Communications Commission voted in July to expand the existing E-rate program to help fill in the gaps left by the expired subsidy. The program, administered by the FCC and started in the 1990s, has provided more than $7 billion in discounts for eligible schools and libraries since 2022 to offset costs of broadband products and services. According to a data analysis by the AP, program benefits went to more than 12,500 libraries, nearly half of them in rural areas, and 106,000 schools in the last two years.

The expired program, known as the Affordable Connectivity Program, gave families with limited income a monthly subsidy to help pay for high-speed internet. The program was part of a broader effort pushed by the administration to bring affordable internet to every home and business in the country. Congress had approved a one-time allocation of $14.2 billion in the 2021 infrastructure bill. The funding ran out and was not renewed.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, who took over as chair of the FCC after President Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in the 2020 election, said the decision to include Wi-Fi hotspots in E-Rate was partly a response to the failure to extend the subsidies.

Earlier this year, the FCC voted to approve E-Rate funding for Wi-Fi on school buses. Starting next year, the list of eligible products will expand to Wi-Fi hotspots.

However, political disagreements and legal threats could thwart future funding for E-Rate, as well as a host of other FCC programs aiming to achieve universal connectivity.

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READ AP’S LATEST COVERAGE:

After millions lose access to internet subsidy, FCC moves to fill connectivity gaps

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FIND YOUR STATE: HOW YOUR STATE IS ALREADY USING E-RATE FUNDING

The AP created a spreadsheet showing the amount of money schools and libraries received through the program since 2022, as well as the number of students affected, among other data points. You can access it here. It lists all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

E-Rate funding for 2024 is still being distributed, so the data for your state could have changed since the AP conducted its analysis using data as of August 12. For this reason, the AP’s data also differs from data published by the FCC earlier in August in response to the Fifth Circuit ruling.

If you are interested in learning about E-Rate funding at the school or library level, use this tool. There are several drop down filters that allow you to specify funding year, entity type (schools, libraries, etc.), state, school and library names and other details. (There is a “more” button to the right of the drop down filters — click that to see all the options). To view only approved funding, ensure the “Funding Request Status” filter is set to “Funded.”

After you set the filters, the webpage will populate a data table. Each row of the data table represents a specific product or service sought by the applicant, so you might see several rows for a single entity even in the same funding year.

The AP used data from the Universal Service Administrative Company, an independent not-for-profit designated by the FCC.

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E-RATE PROGRAM FACES POLITICAL AND LEGAL STRAIN

The expansion of the E-Rate program has not pleased everyone. The two Republicans sitting on the commission argued that E-Rate was meant to bolster and support internet access within the classroom, not at home or other places where students “might want to learn.”

After the FCC voted to expand Wi-Fi hotspots to school buses, a group of Republican senators endorsed a lawsuit challenging the agency’s decision. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas led the group and said in a news release that the commission’s new rule was an overreach that would “harm children by enabling their unsupervised access to the internet.”

Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said having Wi-Fi on school buses is important, particularly in rural areas where bus rides are generally longer.

Disagreements between political parties aren’t the only threat to E-Rate. A July ruling from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals determined the funding mechanism that supports E-Rate and other FCC-administered internet access programs, known as the Universal Service Fund, is unlawful.

Further litigation about the Universal Service Fund is expected, and the case could be taken up by the Supreme Court, experts told the AP.

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ANOTHER PROGRAM: DID SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES IN YOUR STATE BENEFIT?

A separate FCC program, the Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF), is a pandemic-era program that ran out of money this summer. Created to facilitate remote learning, it provided funding for schools and libraries to loan out Wi-Fi hotspots.

Use this tool to see if schools, libraries, youth organizations and other entities in your area received ECF program funds. If they did, and that funding is now gone, reach out to organization officials and administrators and see if they plan to apply for the new E-Rate funding to keep their hotspot loan program going.

This link will show you entities that received funding for Wi-Fi hotspots sorted by amount of money approved. To filter for a single state, click on the column “Billed Entity State,” select “Filter” and choose from the options in the dropdown menu.

Some entities might have funded a Wi-Fi hotspot lending program through other means. For example, the Baltimore County Public Library used its internal budget to develop a program in February 2022. The library system plans to apply for E-Rate funding to double the number of devices it offers to patrons.

Organizations in the following locations have accessed ECF funds specifically for hotspot loans:

Alaska

Alabama

Arkansas

American Samoa

Arizona

California

Colorado

Connecticut

District of Columbia

Delaware

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REPORTING THREADS

— Use the AP’s spreadsheet to see the amount of funding received by schools and libraries in your state through E-Rate. What proportion of those entities are urban or rural? How many students are in the schools that received funding? What percentage of those students are enrolled in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP)?

— Are there large school or library systems in your state? Use the USAC tool detailed above to isolate those entities and view what specific services and products they’ve requested through E-Rate. Use the contact email and phone number provided to inquire about the use of those products and services. Have they heard about the FCC rule to allow funding to be used for Wi-Fi hotspots? If so, does the school or library plan to apply for funding?

— Have any schools in your state in 2023 or 2024 requested money to install Wi-Fi networks on school buses? The decision to include this service as an eligible E-Rate expense is controversial — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) led a group of Republicans in April in endorsing a lawsuit against the FCC for adopting this rule. If so, contact those schools and ask why they requested the funding and where they are in the process.

— Have entities in your area requested funding through ECF for Wi-Fi hotspots? How many do they have? How popular is their lending program? Are they going to apply for additional funding through E-Rate to maintain or grow their lending programs now that the ECF is defunct?

— Try to find families in your community to speak with regarding the cost of internet. Even if they were not recipients of the expired subsidy, they have may be able to share experiences about internet connectivity and speed in the area and how it impacts their kids’ education.

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Read more about the E-Rate program, its history and the FCC’s efforts to modernize it beginning in 2010.

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READ MORE AP COVERAGE

Lawmakers and advocates make last-ditch push to extend affordable internet subsidy

Broadband subsidy program that millions use will expire next year if Congress doesn’t act

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Localize It is is a resource produced regularly by The Associated Press for its customers’ use. Questions can be directed to Katie Oyan at koyan@ap.org.

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