Top Highlights

Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began the rulemaking process to overhaul the E-Rate program at a meeting of the Commissioners. With Commissioner Pai’s proposal, released earlier this week, all three FCC Commissioners have put forth ideas to help reform the current E-Rate. Here is a brief overview of the three Commissioner’s proposals.

FCC Commissioner Rosenworcel (a former staffer for Sen. Rockefeller) has talked about an E-rate 2.0 on several occasions and offered a plan that includes:

• Raising the funding cap.
• Set clear broadband capacity goals.
• Encourage public and private partnerships to develop more cost-effective technologies.
• Streamline the E-rate application process.
• Encourage broadband adoption at the home and study the effectiveness of school hot spots.

Commissioner Clyburn has offered general principles for reform to:

• Provide schools and libraries with affordable access to high capacity broadband.
• Ensure the administrative efficiency of the program.
• Revitalize the program, including better analyzing applicant data and considering how best to distribute funding fairly, eliminate support for outdated services, and reallocate any savings toward investments in more bandwidth.
• Engage state and local officials, foundations, network operators and innovators building the next generation of learning tools and content.

Commissioner Pai delivered one of the more detailed proposals thus far to:

• Simplify the program including through a new two page form.
• Ensure fairer distribution of funding which would allocate an E-Rate budget across every school so they know how much they are eligible for. Schools would receive money on a per-student basis and funds follow students when they change schools.
• Focus on next-generation technologies for kids which would eliminates disincentive to spend money on connecting classrooms and no more funding for stand-alone telephone service.
• Provide more transparency and accountability by creating website where anyone can find out exactly how any school is spending E-Rate funds and adopting a Sarbanes-Oxley like where school district superintendent or school principal must certify that E-Rate funds were used to help students.
• Provide more fiscal discipline where schools would contribute at least one dollar for every three E-Rate dollars they receive and caps overall USF budget before any increase in E-Rate budget.

Bill Updates

The following Maine bills have been carried over and may be considered in a special session or in the 2014 legislative session:

• LD 481, as amended by Committee Amendment “A” would require all full and part time virtual charter school teachers to hold a valid teacher certification or obtain one within three years. LD 481 also would provide that only 20 percent of the per-pupil allocation of state and local operating funds follows the student to a virtual public charter school.
• LD 995 would prohibit the Maine Charter School Commission from authorizing a virtual public charter school until legislation is enacted that would give express authority for the operation of virtual public charter schools.
• LD 1330 would establish an alternative pathway to teacher certification. It would require programs that prepare persons for alternative certification to be certified by the Commissioner of Education. LD 1330 would also require that the programs provide targeted coursework in teaching, mentoring or student teaching experience, classroom preparation, and student assessments.