Michele Molnar

Public charter schools are requesting 79 percent more per building from the federal E-rate program than traditional public schools are, according to an Education Week-requested analysis from Funds for Learning.

The Oklahoma-based company, which consults schools on the E-rate, conducted a review of all requests for funding submitted by schools and districts in 2014 -- about 21,000 applications in all.

The analysis shows that smaller applicants generally have to pay more for their services, "likely due to their inability to tap into the economies of scale that bigger applicants benefit from," said John Harrington, CEO of Funds for Learning.

Education advocates worry that schools could find themselves in the slow lanes of Internet delivery if proposed "net neutrality" rules posted by the Federal Communications Commission are adopted as written.

The new rules would leave an opening for broadband Internet providers like Verizon Communications, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable, to give preferential treatment to content providers that pay for the privilege of faster delivery of their content -- like streaming movies -- to customers.

While potential changes to net neutrality agitated many of those who closely monitor Internet policy, the issue is not well-understood within K-12 circles, despite its potentially broad impact in education, Douglas A. Levin, executive director of the State Educational Technology Directors Association. "Ultimately for educators, the access to high-capacity broadband is as important in schools today as access to electricity, plumbing, air conditioning, and heating," he said.

Questions arose about whether schools will have to stand in line for acceptable speeds of Internet access under proposed new rules floated by the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

FCC commissioners received the rules, in advance of a May 15 vote. As written, the proposed rules would impact "net neutrality," which refers to the open and free flow of content on the Internet, regardless of where it originates.

The new rules would leave an opening for broadband Internet providers like Verizon Communications, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable, to give preferential treatment to content providers that pay for the privilege of higher priority service.

For schools, the issue is problematic. Unless educational services are offered preferential treatment by providers, "schools could find themselves even further challenged to make use of digital learning tools and services," said Douglas Levin, executive director of the State Educational Technology Directors Association.

The proposed rules could impact ed-tech companies, too. Larger ones might be well-positioned to pay for fast-lane service, while smaller ones and start-ups could find themselves at a competitive disadvantage, said Amina Fazlullah, policy director of the Benton Foundation, a Washington-based organization that works to ensure that media and telecommunications serve the public interest. "Any net neutrality proposal must ensure the same quality access to online educational content as to entertainment and other commercial offerings," Fazlullah wrote. "We need to ensure that the Internet remains a medium for opportunity not just an opportunity for Internet providers to increase profits."