Proposal to Use E-Rate for Wi-Fi on School Buses and Hotspots Runs Into GOP Opposition

Two key Republican lawmakers are opposing a Federal Communications Commission proposal that would expand the E-rate program to allow it to pay for Wi-Fi on school buses and mobile hotspots that schools can loan out to students. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) sent a letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel on July 31 2023 asking her to “rescind this unlawful plan to vastly expand the E-Rate program.” The letter—from the top Republicans who sit on the congressional committees that oversee the FCC—came more than a month after the Chairwoman unveiled her “Learn Without Limits” initiative. The proposed changes, if adopted by the full FCC, would allow E-rate funding to be used for Wi-Fi on school buses and for Wi-Fi hotspot devices that schools and libraries can loan out to students and patrons. Though students are back to attending school in person, they still need reliable home internet to fully participate in their education. But the number of schools that say they are providing students with home internet access has dropped dramatically since September 2021, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. The opposition from top Republicans in Congress, however, likely complicates the path to adoption for the Chairwoman's initiative. Sen. Cruz and Rep. Rodgers wrote in their letter that Chairwoman Rosenworcel’s proposal to use E-rate funding for Wi-Fi hotspots for schools and libraries to loan out is beyond the commission’s authority and would “duplicate programs across the federal government” and open the door to “wasteful” spending. The FCC’s E-rate authority is “explicitly confined to classrooms and libraries,” Sen. Cruz and Rep. Rodgers wrote, so the program shouldn’t be used off campus. They also wrote that E-rate should only be used to fund “services,” not “consumer devices.”