August 5, 2013
Since 1996, few federal policies have helped more to encourage connectivity and lay the foundation for digital learning more than the E-Rate program. Originally established to help provide discounts to assist public and private schools as well as libraries obtain affordable telecommunications and Internet access. The program has helped shape the national landscape, starting in 1996 with from 14% of classrooms with Internet access and of those with access, 74% with Internet access used dial-up Internet access. By 2005, the E-rate program had helped successfully connected 94% of U.S. classrooms to the Internet.
But 17 years after the inception of the program, times have changed, and the needs of schools have changed, but E-Rate has largely stayed the same. A bipartisan consensus has formed around the need to reevaluate the goals and methods of this program, and the FCC has officially kicked off the Notice of Rule Making Process for modernizing E-Rate.
To provide background and a foundation for this discussion, we’ve compiled an E-rate Policy Brief (which can also be found in our Advocacy Toolkit) looking at the history of the Universal Service Fund and a Background on E-Rate and then continuing to look at The State of E-Rate in 2013. A slate of the tentative proposals are addressed in E-Rate 2.0 and then a broad overview of the issues impacting, not just E-Rate but promoting high quality Digital Learning are covered in Looking Ahead.