Effective Date Set For Updated, Upgraded E-Rate Program

Posted on December 3, 2010 by Frank Jazzo

New and improved universal service support mechanism for schools, libraries to become effective January 3

The FCC’s Sixth Report and Order (6th R&O) in its Schools and Libraries Universal Service Support Mechanism proceeding (more commonly known as “the E-rate program”) – first adopted last September – has finally been published in the Federal Register. This means that the revised rules will take effect on January 3, 2011 . 

In the 6th R&O, the FCC has upgraded and modernized the E-rate program, consistent with the National Broadband Plan’s (NBP’s) vision of improving broadband connectivity at the nation’s schools and libraries.

The revisions adopted in the 6th R&O fall into three conceptual categories: (1) providing schools and libraries with greater flexibility to select and make available the most cost-effective broadband and other communications services; (2) simplifying the E-rate application process; and (3) improving safeguards against waste, fraud and abuse.

In particular, the 6th R&O provides schools and libraries with more flexibility by allowing applicants to lease dark or lit fiber from the most cost-effective provider. The FCC has also changed its rules to allow schools to permit community use of E-rate funded services outside of school hours. With affordable fiber, these “School Spots” are a major step toward the NBP’s goal of connecting an anchor institution in every community to affordable 1 gigabit per second broadband. The FCC indexed to the inflation rate E-rate’s funding cap in order to maintain purchasing power. Finally, the FCC seeks proposals for a limited pilot program to establish best practices to support off-campus wireless connectivity for portable learning devices, such as digital textbooks, outside of regular school or library operating hours. The Commission has separately announced that applications for the pilot program must be submitted on or before December 17, 2010.

The FCC simplified the E-rate program by streamlining the application process to reduce the administrative burden on applicants. The FCC also removed the technology plan requirement for priority one (telecommunications services and Internet access) services. The FCC is facilitating the disposal and recycling of obsolete equipment that received E-rate support by authorizing schools and libraries to receive consideration for such equipment.

The 6th R&O improves safeguards against waste, fraud and abuse by codifying the requirement that competitive bidding processes be fair and open. Applicants may not solicit or receive gifts from service providers and service providers may not offer or provide gifts to applicants. In addition, the 6th R&O adopts the eligible services list (ESL) for funding year 2011 (July 1, 2011-June 30, 2012). The FCC revisits this list each year based on input as to which services should or should not be deemed eligible for support. The only change of significance in this year’s ESL was to include features that facilitate the ability to communicate, such as blogging, e-mailing over a school or library’s hosted website, discussion boards, and services that may facilitate real-time interactive communication such as instant messaging or chat, as eligible for funds as part of a web hosting package. The FCC had previously deemed such features as ineligible, presumably because of their potential to devolve into a social networking site.

The FCC noted that the 6th R&O represents the first stage in a multi-stage upgrade of the E-rate program. The changes adopted will be in place for the upcoming funding year; however, the FCC will continue to consider changes to further improve and update the E-rate program.
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NBP and Education: Broadband Goes To School

Posted on March 22, 2010 by Jeff Gee

FCC encourages use of broadband by schools and funding of broadband by government.

Among the array of ills which the FCC’s National Broadband Plan (NBP) addresses is the insufficiency of broadband in our schools.  The NBP therefore devotes considerable attention to Education. It begins by noting studies showing American students lagging far behind their counterparts in other advanced nations in math and science. The NBP’s solution, unsurprisingly, is more broadband. The NBP promotes the use of broadband-enabled resources for students, teachers and educational intuitions and proposes increased investment in broadband infrastructure. Specifically, the NBP recommends a collection of initiatives designed to: (1) support and promote online learning; (2) unlock the value of data and improve transparency; and (3) modernize educational broadband infrastructure.

The NBP strongly embraces online learning tools as both an in-class resource and a means of extending learning beyond the classroom. To promote online learning, the NBP’s recommendations include creating and implementing new standards and formats so that educational content can be more easily located and shared by educators. The plan also urges Congress to consider certain changes to copyright law to “encourage copyright holders to grant educational digital rights of use.” 

On the state and local level, the NBP recommends changes to accreditation programs to allow for more online instruction to count towards primary, secondary and post-secondary programs – allowing students in rural high schools, for instance, to take online AP courses from larger schools or even schools from other states. State and local school systems are also encouraged to include more “digital literacy” elements in their curricula. Finally, the NBP recommends increased funding from the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) and other federal agencies for research and development of online learning systems and teacher training in digital literacy.

The NBP notes that not only can information technology improve education but information about education can improve education. In that vein, it urges new and improved measures for capturing, storing and utilizing information about students, teachers, schools and educational resources. The NBP therefore recommends that DOE encourage the adoption of standards for electronic educational records, including standards for information sharing, privacy and data security. The NBP also recommends greater financial data transparency, with the goal of making educational spending and related data more publicly available to encourage analysis that may improve educational policy. 

Finally, the NBP includes a series of recommendations, many targeting the use of E-rate funding, to increase spending on educational broadband infrastructure. The E-rate program (or the Schools and Libraries universal service support program) allows schools and libraries to receive telecommunications services at discounted rates. Recommendations include:

  • Removing barriers to off-hours community use of E-rate funded resources.
  • Prioritizing E-rate support for broadband connectivity for schools and libraries.
  • Providing E-rate support for internal connections to schools and libraries.
  • Greater spending flexibility for E-rate applicants so that applicants can seek the lowest cost solutions.
  • Raising the cap on E-rate funding to account for inflation.
  • Streamlining the E-rate application process.
  • Collecting and publishing more information on E-rate spending.
  • Encouraging more cost-efficient broadband expenditures through the E-rate program by encouraging increased information sharing and collaboration among federal, state and local agencies.
  • Lowering barriers to E-rate eligibility for Tribal libraries.
  • Awarding E-rate funding to programs that incorporate broadband connectivity into the educational experience.
  • Using E-rate funding to support wireless connectivity to portable learning devices.
  • Congressional allocation of funds to provide and maintain broadband connections to public community colleges.

As with all elements of the NBP, the plan’s recommendations on education may see many changes as they proceed through the various rulemaking and legislative processes. Indeed, this may be even more true for education, which has a long history of local control and local policy taking precedence over federal plans and proposals.

[Blogmeister note: This is one in a series of posts describing the range of regulatory and societal areas in which the National Broadband Plan could, and likely will, affect us all. Click here to find other posts in this series.]
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FCC Opens E-Rate Facilities To The Public At Large

Posted on February 22, 2010 by Peter Tannenwald

Limited non-educational use of E-Rate-subsidized services OK’d temporarily with strings attached, as FCC considers making change permanent

For more than a decade schools and libraries have been eligible, under the E-Rate program, for discounts on a number of telecommunications services, Internet access, internal connections and related maintenance.  The idea has been to promote the availability of affordable Internet connections for educational purposes. And to assure that the program is used for that focused goal, the FCC’s rules governing the E-Rate program have flatly prohibited schools from allowing E-Rate-subsidized facilities to be used for anything other than educational activities.

But now the Commission has loosened that prohibition, at least temporarily: through June 30, 2011, E-Rate-subsidized service in schools may be made available for use by the general community when school is not in session, as long as the cost to the government is not increased and the public is not charged for the Internet access. In the meantime, the FCC has invited comments on whether to make that change permanent.

Since the inception of the E-Rate program, subsidized service at schools could be used only for “educational purposes”. That means students and faculty may use the service at any time, but the general public may never do so. The result is that school computers are often idle at night, on weekends or during school breaks, when they could be put to use by adults who cannot afford broadband service at home or who live in geographic areas where broadband is not readily available. In the current difficult economic circumstances, Internet access could be used to apply for jobs, fill out government forms, and the like.

The FCC gets the point, so on its own motion it has declared that, from now through June 30, 2011, schools may choose to allow members of the community at large to use school equipment and Internet access when students are not around. But to assure that those facilities continue to be primarily dedicated to education, the FCC has attached strings:

  • Non-educational use is restricted to times when school is not in session (including evenings, weekends, holidays, and vacations);
  • Expanded use will not justify any additional funding beyond what is needed for strictly educational purposes; and
  • The public may not be charged for Internet access (although reasonable charges may be imposed to pay for extra heat, light, security, and similar increased costs). 

The FCC says it will be diligent in scrutinizing funding applications, and especially amendments to pending applications, to make sure that no effort is made to sneak in requests to fund anything other than educational use by students and faculty.

Expanding the universe of users raises the question of whether mandatory filters to protect children from “inappropriate content” – obscenity, child pornography, other material that would be “harmful to minors” – should be removable when adults use the Internet access. The FCC will leave that decision up to individual schools.

While the Commission has made this relaxation effective only through June, 2011, it has at the same time proposed to amend its rules to make the relaxation permanent. That would be accomplished simply by a regulatory specification that E-Rate-subsidized facilities will be used “primarily”, rather than “solely”, for educational purposes. Comments on that proposed change will be due 30 days after the proposal is published in the Federal Register. 

In the meantime, the temporary relaxation is effective immediately.
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