Bulletins

America needs to fully enter the digital age -- and that starts with our nation’s schools and libraries. I saw that for my self yesterday in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) hereby submits the federal Universal Service Support Mechanisms fund size and administrative cost projections for the third quarter of calendar year 2014 (3Q2014), in accordance with Section 54.709 of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC or Commission) rules.

The Universal Service Administrative Company’s (USAC’s) estimate of demand for the Schools and Libraries Universal Service Support Mechanism discounts for Funding Year (FY) 2014 (July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015) is $4.825 billion. This estimate is based on total funds requested in 45,731 FCC Form 471 applications received or postmarked on or before March 26, 2014, the close of the FY 2014 FCC Form 471 filing window. A table showing demand by service type and discount band is attached to this letter.

Statement of Ajit Pai Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission before the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government of the United States House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations "Budget Hearing — Federal Communications Commission"

Remarks of Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, Consortium for School Networking Award for Excellence in Public Service, Washington, DC March 20, 2014.

Remarks of Tom Wheeler, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission, Council of Chief State School Officers Legislative Conference March 17, 2014.

The purpose of this letter is to notify the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) that the Wireline Competition Bureau approves the Schools and Libraries Funding Year 2014 Program Integrity Assurance FCC Form 471 Review Procedures, dated December 9, 2013 (as modified via email from USAC on February 20, 2014), subject to further modifications and/or instruction from the Commission with regard to the prioritization of the FCC Form 471 applications.

Good morning. It is a treat to be here in in Austin and exciting to be a part of SXSW. Texas this time of year is becoming a hot bed of ideas. If you want to see what is happening in culture and technology, in March you head South and you head West. I, for one, am glad to be here—especially because it is cold and snowy back in Washington.

Prepared Remarks of Tom Wheeler Chairman, Federal Communications Commission. National Digital Learning Day. The Library of Congress. February 5, 2014.

Today, following up on his call to action, the President is announcing major progress toward realizing the ConnectED goal to get high-speed Internet connectivity and educational technology into classrooms, and into the hands of teachers trained on its advantages. The FCC and private sector are taking key steps to answer the President’s call.

Washington D.C. - The Federal Communications Commission announced today the agency will invest an additional $2 billion over the next two years to support broadband networks in our nations' schools and libraries. This represents a doubling of investment in broadband and will connect 20 million students in at least 15,000 schools to high-speed Internet access.

Remarks of Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Learning At Home: Families' Educational Media Use in America The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop, New York, New York January 24, 2014.

The following comments are being submitted on behalf of the State E-Rate Coordinators’ Alliance (“SECA”) regarding the E-rate implications of the proposed amendments to the eligibility regulations for free and reduced-priced meals under National School Lunch Program (NSLP)and School Breakfast Program (SBP).

The push to bring high-speed Internet to more U.S. schools drew high-profile support Wednesday, as a nonprofit that promotes that mission announced that it has received grants from an Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's organization, Startup:Education, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and other donors, worth a total of $9 million.

The FCC Form 471 application filing window for Funding Year 2014 will open at noon EST on Thursday, January 9, 2014 and will close at 11:59 pm EDT on Wednesday, March 26, 2014. The filing window will be open for 77 days.

Democratic policy makers said Nov. 5 that more must be done to ensure universal access to high-speed broadband Internet access.

There is widespread agreement that the federal E-rate program must be overhauled to focus on expanding K-12 access to high-speed broadband connections. But an intense debate is underway about the nuts and bolts of how best to satisfy schools' huge appetite for more bandwidth and the demands for mobile devices for learning—all without leaving poor and rural districts behind.

The initial deadline for public comment on the Federal Communications Commission's proposal to overhaul the federal E-rate program recently passed, and roughly 800 educators, libraries, advocates, representatives from the telecommunications industry, and others have weighed in.

President Obama liked the idea laid out in a memo from his staff: an ambitious plan to expand high-speed Internet access in schools that would allow students to use digital notebooks and teachers to customize lessons like never before. Better yet, the president would not need Congress to approve it.

The lone Republican on the Federal Communications Commission has unveiled a proposal to make the E-rate program more transparent and less bureaucratic, while also requiring schools to chip in one dollar for every three dollars they receive through the program.