Statement of Commissioner Ajit Pai on Broadband's Impact on Schools and Libraries in South Dakota

America needs to fully enter the digital age -- and that starts with our nation’s schools and libraries. I saw that for myself in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Sioux Falls is no anomaly. It’s amazing what schools and libraries across South Dakota have done with so little. Even though promoting broadband across 77,123 square miles is the definition of a high-cost endeavor, South Dakota schools have received about 30% less per student than New Jersey schools. And while the Siouxland Libraries stretch their resources so thinly that some rural libraries only operate three hours a day, library officials told me that they’ve given up applying for E-Rate funding because the process is so burdensome and the rewards for rural libraries so few.

In sum, the E-Rate program just isn’t meeting the needs of rural America. E-Rate’s funding formula favors larger, urban school districts that can afford to hire consultants to navigate the administrative process and draw every dollar E-Rate makes available to them. In contrast, E-Rate offers smaller, rural schools and libraries less funding, even when broadband costs more for them and they don’t have the resources to hire outside help.

A sad refrain I’ve heard over and over is that applying for E-Rate funding just isn’t worth the effort. That’s a digital divide we shouldn’t tolerate. The FCC needs to reform E-Rate to make it more user-friendly and target the needs of students and library patrons. A student-centered E-Rate program would cut the red tape. It would end funding inequities and focus E-Rate on connecting citizens young and old to digital opportunities.