E-rate to the Home Initiative

The Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition, the State E-rate Coordinators Alliance (SECA), and Funds for Learning (FFL) have developed a proposal for Congress to provide one-time funding so that school students, teachers, and library patrons can obtain broadband at home, end-user devices (such as laptops and tablets), and cybersecurity to address the COVID-19 crisis. The groups are asking Congress to include this legislation in the next coronavirus relief legislation that may be brought up for a vote in the very near future. The “E-rate to the Home” bill includes the following key provisions:

1. It provides one-time emergency funding of $5.25 billion to the Federal Communications Commission for an “E-rate to the Home” initiative.
2. It provides funding for home broadband service, broadband network equipment, end-user devices including laptops or tablets, and cybersecurity.
3. It ensures that all broadband providers are eligible to participate (provider-neutral).
4. It explicitly allows schools and libraries to extend their existing E-rate-funded networks to serve the surrounding community, including for backhaul.
5. It provides funding for cybersecurity so that schools and libraries can protect their networks against ransomware and cyberattacks, which have been on the increase.
6. It directs the FCC to set funding caps at the applicant level to ensure fiscal integrity and allow schools and library to know how much funding is available for their planning purposes.
7. It ensures funds can be used for expenditures back to March 13.
8. It streamlines and expedites the application review and approval process so that schools and libraries receive their funding soon after the bill’s passage and are prepared to provide online instruction and learning in the fall.