E-rate/Schools and Libraries Program

Lawyers defending the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to manage a longstanding $8.1 billion broadband subsidy expressed cautious optimism ahead of the March 26 Supreme Court oral arguments in FCC v.

Community anchor institutions (CAIs)—such as schools, libraries, community health centers, and similar organizations—play a crucial role in offering free or affordable internet access to underserved communities. In many areas, the connectivity options offered by CAIs—whether on-site (via wired or wireless networks) or through remote programs like hotspot lending—are among the few affordable and reliable services available.

Congress is supposed to write the laws, but these days it often prefers to delegate to the executive branch, and then cheer or boo the results. Twice amid the New Deal, but not since, the Supreme Court struck down statutes as abdications of Congress’s lawmaking power. Yet the Court has another chance in the case that the Justices will consider Wednesday, FCC v. Consumers’ Research.

Zayo announced a $90 million investment to expand and enhance fiber infrastructure across Tennessee. This investment will bolster key network routes, providing critical connectivity to major data centers and educational institutions and driving economic growth and innovation statewide. The initiative includes advanced network infrastructure to power hyperscale and data center campuses, supporting the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) and other high-bandwidth workloads in the region.

When severe weather prevented Bullitt County (KY) students from attending school full time, a crucial library hotspot lending program kept 30 percent of them connected to their studies. These students would otherwise have had no access to virtual learning from their homes. This same program helps local farmers ensure the wellbeing of their livestock.

Federal law seeks to make communications technology like telephones and the internet, in the words of one older statute, “available, so far as possible, to all the people of the United States.” A longstanding federal program that seeks to implement this goal is now before the Supreme Court, in a case known as FCC v. Consumers’ Research, and the stakes could be enormous.

The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Managing Director (OMD) announces that the proposed universal service contribution factor for the second quarter of 2025 will be 0.366 or 36.6 percent. Contributions to the federal universal service support mechanisms are determined using a quarterly contribution factor calculated by the FCC. The FCC calculates the quarterly contribution factor based on the ratio of total projected quarterly costs of the universal service support mechanisms to contributors’ total projected collected end-user interstate and international telecommunications re

Over 30 organizations have signed a letter urging US senators to vote against a resolution that would overturn a Federal Communications Commission decision to allow E-Rate funding to be used for Wi-Fi hotspots for students, school staff and library patrons.

Under the Biden Administration, the Federal Communications Commission expanded the E-Rate broadband subsidy program to provide free Wi-Fi on school buses and Wi-Fi hotspot devices for off-campus use by school-age children, despite lacking congressional authorization. This expansion wastes taxpayer money and encroaches on parental authority over children’s screen use and should be ended.

The  Federal Communications Commission announced the E-Rate and Rural Health Care programs’ annual caps for funding year 2025. The adjusted amounts represent a 2.4 percent inflation-adjusted increase to both programs’ funding year 2024 annual caps. The E-Rate program funding cap for funding year 2025 is $5,058,637,966. The RHC program funding cap for funding year 2025 is $723,892,841.