The Federal Communications Commission came under fire today for proposing to scale back or eliminate E-Rate, the $2 billion-a-year Universal Service program that provides discounts on telecommunications services and equipment at schools and libraries.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said E-Rate should be changed because students spend too much time on screens. He He led by a vote of 2-1 issuing a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposing changes and asking the public to comment on them.
“Over the past decade, school districts across the country have experimented with massively increasing screen time for students,” Carr said at today’s meeting.
Carr blamed schools for replacing books and pens with digital tools, saying data showed “more than half of students now use computers for up to four hours a day, and a quarter of them spend more than four hours on a screen.” E-Rate began in 1997 with “a clear focus — supporting basic Internet access to schools and libraries for educational purposes,” but “exponentially expanded,” he said.
“We are seeking comment on whether the program should be reoriented in light of all of the above developments, as well as increased outreach to schools and libraries across the country since 1997,” Carr said.
The FCC is seeking comment on the E-Rate suspension
Despite Carr’s use of the word “redirected,” options on the table include shutting down E-Rate. This is a public project NPRM requesting comment on E-Rate capping or sunsetting:
Should the E-Rate program be limited or sunset to reflect today’s wide range of connection rates? At what point should policy-makers conclude that the main objective of the program has been achieved? We seek comment on whether Congress intended the E-Rate to remain in effect indefinitely, regardless of how schools and libraries achieve universal connectivity.
The FCC’s lone Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, asked Carr’s office to remove language seeking comment on the sunset of the E-Rate program. Gomez’s spokesman told Ars today that the chairman’s office rejected the request.
