Advocates for school internet access sound alarm over FCC program

A federal program intended to help school districts attain better access to the internet is under fire. Advocates for connectivity say the Federal Communications Commission is leaving many rural districts in limbo with long delays and denials. Most of the concerns surround applications for federal aid to connect rural schools to fiber optic networks through the E-rate program. “Red tape and bureaucracy… are causing huge delays in getting their projects reviewed,” said Evan Marwell, CEO of EducationSuperHighway, a nonprofit that has long advocated for school connectivity. The group estimates it takes an average of nine months to get a decision on a fiber project. He said that the contractor in charge of reviewing applications and FCC administrators “are so concerned, so focused on waste, fraud and abuse, and making sure a dollar doesn’t get spent the wrong way, that they are losing sight of the real goal, which is to get kids connected. They’re making it really hard.” EducationSuperHighway launched a website to track delays and denials, hoping to put pressure on the FCC. According to the site, 38 fiber optics projects in 17 states have been awaiting decisions since last year. In addition, the group says 61 projects in 28 states have been “unfairly denied.” Marwell described intense technical questionnaires some districts are unable to properly provide as among the factors in denials. One recently denied is Woodman School District 18, a one-school district in Missoula County, Montana. Superintendent Erin Lipkind said a years-long process to procure a bid from the local service provider, persuade parents to fill out forms to meet the needs-based thresholds of the E-rate program, and secure $2 million in matching funds from the state legislature ultimately resulted in a denial. She said the district continues to work with EducationSuperHighway to get around the technical issues that led to the denial. In the meantime, Woodman continues to operate with sluggish upload speeds of .15 Megabits per second, and download speeds of .52 Mbps. (For perspective, the FCC’s benchmarks are 3 Mbps and 25 Mbps, respectively.) Lipkind said students are bused to other schools for standardized testing, and teachers who live outside the district download videos and online content onto computers at home to use in their lessons. “We expected they would be digging the trenches this fall, and that we would have broadband fiber by the spring,” Lipkind said. “At some point, your shoulders start sagging. We’re a tiny little school. We want to focus our energies on education.” Gov. Steve Bullock (D-MT) said “red tape” is standing in the way of connectivity for many Montana students. Gov Bullock visited Woodman amid much fanfare last year when the legislature approved matching funds for the fiber project, taking pictures with celebrating students and teachers. “I urge the Federal Communications Commission to eliminate the uncertainty and speed up the E-Rate approval process,” he added. A spokesman for the FCC said that Chairman Ajit Pai has directed the contractor in charge of reviewing E-rate applications to take “deliberate steps to make the processing of all E-rate applications – including, but not limited to, fiber applications — more efficient.” He added: “The Chairman is committed to building on that improvement, and to ensuring that the E-rate program continues to support the high-speed broadband needs of 21st century schools and libraries.”