More than 106,000 of the nation’s schools benefited over a three-year period on a source of federal tech funding to set up and maintain internet connectivity that is now under legal threat.
That’s one key data point in a new fact sheet released by the Federal Communications Commission in response to a 9-7 ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The 5th Circuit ruled that the funding mechanism for the FCC’s Universal Service Fund or USF, which finances the E-rate, a federal program critical to K-12 broadband connectivity, amounts to a “misbegotten tax” and is unconstitutional.
The USF, which is financed through fees on certain telecommunications services, funds different programs aimed at providing telecommunications services to schools, libraries, rural hospitals, people living in poverty, and people in remote rural areas.
The FCC is expected to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Consumers’ Research, a conservative nonprofit watchdog organization that brought the lawsuit against the FCC, believes the role of setting the tax to fund the E-rate and other USF programs belongs to Congress, rather than the FCC and the Universal Service Administrative Company, a private entity the agency tapped to determine how much to charge telecommunications companies.
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel called the decision “misguided” and said the agency “will pursue all available avenues for review.”
A coalition of more than a dozen education organizations, including the Consortium for School Networking and AASA, the School Superintendents Association, called the ruling “absurd.”
The decision “could lead to cutting off broadband access for tens of millions of students, educators, and library patrons,” a statement from the coalition said.
Here are a few key figures about the E-rate program and its impact on schools, according to the FCC fact sheet.
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