Education Advocates Ask FCC to Close Remote Learning Gap

A coalition of education advocates petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to close the remote learning gap for the estimated 15 to 16 million students who lack home internet access. If granted, the petition would allow schools and libraries to connect these disconnected learners using funding from the E-rate program. The petition requests that the Commission issue a declaratory ruling clarifying that the off-campus use of broadband services and equipment for the purpose of facilitating remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic constitutes an educational purpose, making those services and equipment eligible for E-rate support. The requested declaratory ruling would make it unnecessary for schools or libraries to cost-allocate between on- and off-campus uses, thereby giving them greater flexibility to use their existing broadband connections for educational purposes to connect students, teachers, and other school staff to the Internet from their homes. The declaratory ruling would also provide the legal foundation necessary to use existing financial reserves to help applicants pay for remote learning equipment and services.

Led by the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition, the coalition of education advocates includes the American Library Association (ALA), the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), the National School Boards Association (NSBA), the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), the State E-rate Coordinators’ Alliance (SECA), the Urban Libraries Council (ULC), the Wireless Future Project at New America, and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.