The E-Rate Debate Is Missing the Point

It’s hard to imagine the daily operations of a school occurring without internet connectivity. It’s what provides the internet and telecommunications access, often essential for instruction and lesson planning, but also internal network connections.

Schools often rely on those internal networks to support student information systems, bus routes and tracking, heating and cooling systems, security systems and lockdown procedures, school lunches, attendance tracking, Individualized Education Program (IEP) documentation, state assessments, payroll and accounting systems, and more, as Stacy Hawthorne, executive director for the EdTech Leaders Alliance, explained in hour-by-hour detail this summer.  

But, federal support for this essential infrastructure is in jeopardy, and that could have far-reaching impacts on learning ecosystems in regions and localities around the country. E-Rate is a multi-billion dollar federal program helping schools and libraries create and maintain internet access and digital infrastructure by providing 20 percent to 90 percent discounts on broadband and internet connectivity. It is currently under review by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), whose decision could include limiting or ending E-Rate entirely; the deadline for submitting reply comments is November 12. 

Consider the impact of this unsung hero: When E-Rate was established in 1996, only 14 percent of K-12 classrooms were connected to the internet. Now, that number is near universal, an outcome supported by E-Rate, which reaches 96.3 percent of U.S. public schools, and represents the fifth largest stream of federal funding for schools. Libraries rely on it too, with 73 percent of all public libraries (12,230) operating with the support of E-Rate. E-Rate’s reach stretches across every corner of the country—touching 3,174 of the country’s 3,235 counties, supporting communities in all 50 states, DC, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico. 

At New America, our Open Technology Institute and Wireless Future program has examined and advocated for E-Rate improvements for more than a decade. Among many other writings, their comments submitted in 2021 recognized E-Rate as part of necessary infrastructure for helping to close the “homework gap” and ensure low-income students and families are not left behind. Recommendations from New America’s 2021 report, Public Libraries and the Pandemic, also supported the use of E-Rate.

As Noelle Ellerson Ng, the chief advocacy and governance officer for The School Superintendents Association shared with EdWeek, E-Rate “is without hesitation the backbone to our district operations and those of our libraries.” With connectivity as the essential backbone to numerous operations, ending the program wouldn’t curtail the need for connectivity, so schools and libraries would have to shoulder the burden of higher internet costs at a time when public funding for these institutions is shrinking.

Rural and high-poverty communities, those receiving the greatest E-Rate discounts, would face the most detriment—in more ways than one. Chaula Gupta, vice president and chief program officer of Digital Promise and a commissioner on New America’s National Commission on Learning Ecosystems, said she has seen how the local school or library often might be the only reliable source of free internet access in a rural or underserved area, supporting not just students, but all members of the community. 

“The schools are a hub for the community because that’s where connectivity is,” Gupta said.  

In the FCC’s notice, the discussion section focuses on “Assessing Student’s Screen Time,” but E-Rate advocates say that concerns about screen time would be a misreading of the program, considering E-Rate funds cannot be used to purchase end-user devices and equipment, such as laptops, desktops, or tablets. E-Rate supports essential infrastructure that allows devices (and essential school services) to run.  The exact determinations of which tech makes it into student hands, and for how long, is a decision left up to local districts and states. 

The proposed cuts to E-Rate reflect a critical misconception regarding the role of digital connectivity in schools. Advocating for digital connectivity does not equate to advocating for blanket distribution of technology in schools. In fact, Gupta names this as one of the biggest misconceptions that Digital Promise, an organization connecting and developing educator networks to advance powerful learning for students, encounters. 

“We have seen example after example,” Gupta said, “of that very well-intentioned effort leading to nothing, leading to those devices just sitting and collecting dust, leading to zero change in teaching practices. ” By contrast, she added, rather than “starting and ending with technology, we really think about the relationship between teachers, students, and the content,” and how technology can be used to support and enable the learning experience, rather than being seen as the main innovation. 

Leveraging digital spaces to create cross-community connection and trust-building is especially vital for building thriving and resilient learning ecosystems, which recognize that a learner’s journey extends far beyond the four walls of a classroom. Through better connecting physical sites of learning, interwoven learning ecosystems facilitate relevant, dynamic, community and learner-centered experiences. The benefits for learners may be clear, but leveraging digital infrastructure can also accelerate reach, accessibility, and depth of engagement of educators, caregivers, and leaders. 

Gupta shared how digital connectivity can promote powerful student learning, highlighting Digital Promise’s annual Ciena Solutions Challenge, an online program inviting teacher-led student teams to use Challenge Based Learning to solve real challenges seen in their communities, tackling “everything from kids using AI to create low-cost oral screening tools to creating systems that shut off the electricity when flooding goes above a certain level.” The program has expanded to reach more than 100 participating countries and enabled over 1,200 educators to engage students in community-oriented programs, and is coordinated entirely online. 

The teachers receive virtual professional development from Digital Promise. Then, the project is typically developed physically in the classroom. The program culminates in YouthMADE, a decentralized global festival hosted online, celebrating projects and creating global connections. “But all of that is digital, right? All of that is possible when you sort of have that base level of infrastructure that allows you to participate in that kind of global conversation,” says Gupta.

As shown, organizations like Digital Promise can function as digital intermediaries for educators, enabling them to bring the community into their classroom and create engaging, hands-on learning experiences for their students. However, utilizing digital means isn’t restricted to intermediary organizations: Local school districts, like Gwinnett County Public Schools in Georgia, have leveraged digital infrastructure to enhance the accessibility of educator professional development programs. Their Office of Early Learning and School Readiness has created professional development programs reaching early childhood educators to ease the transition from early learning to K-12 through a modified program framework, reaching educators either in-person or virtually to maximize impact.

Gwinnett County Public Schools also offers a model for making programs more accessible to caregivers. Their Play2Learn program, offered in person, has a website with videos and activities for parents who cannot access it otherwise. In partnership with the local library, they host Bedtime with Brainy, where books distributed in the community are read aloud online, so families can see a developmentally-sensitive model of a read aloud, strengthening the in-person activity. Their website, Building Babies’ Brains offers a host of resources grouped by child age, along with an event calendar so that caregivers can find out where high quality events are happening in their community. This hybrid approach is also taken by Remake Learning to boost participation in their Remake Learning Days, multi-day celebrations of learning designed to spark creativity, curiosity, and a love for learning in various community sites nationwide. Their website was designed with caregivers in mind, offering easy navigation to region-specific calendars highlighting events close to them. 

At their core, learning ecosystems center on relationships. “One of the secrets to creating a thriving ecosystem is making sure that people understand how they can rely on each other and creating opportunities where leaders are able to build those relationships,” notes Gupta. 

Ecosystem leaders can feel alone in this work, but digital connection can remind leaders that their aims and outcomes are deeply intertwined. It’s one reason why New America’s National Commission on Learning Ecosystems created Virtual Learning Communities and a LinkedIn Group, where those engaged in learning ecosystems work can find community, learn from each other, and discover that the field is much larger than just them. 

As Chaula Gupta says, “At the end of the day, it’s the people and the quality of their relationships that’s going to determine whether this is a thriving ecosystem.” In the Digital Age, connectivity helps build the relationships at the heart of both student learning and wider learning ecosystems, and programs like E-Rate make that connectivity possible.