FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler began last Tuesday’s E-Rate Modernization Workshop with praise for the E-rate program, but he also stated that the program needs modernization to focus on high-speed broadband with service to students and patrons (not just to the building). While efficiency improvements are still needed, he reported that the FCC and USAC have completed an overhaul of the administrative process, prioritizing FY 2014 applications to move broadband services more quickly. Chairman Wheeler said that the first FY 2014 wave would be going out for half a billion dollars (USAC subsequently announced a total of over $607 million). There will be six times more high-speed broadband commitments in this wave than in the first wave last year.
Commissioner Ajit Pai agreed with the Chairman’s remarks, providing an example of the power of high-speed broadband to teach students that he had observed in a classroom in the San Fernando Valley: the teacher asked the students to use their iPads to search for the term “tessellation” in Google images and to describe what they saw. The students did that and then discussed why Muslims integrate tessellation in their art. Rather than simply being told about tessellation, the students were able to research it themselves and then understand its use in art. Pai expressed confidence that real E-rate reform will be achieved this year with the goals being: a student focus, easier navigation, a fairer distribution of funds to rural areas, and more transparency in how the funds are being used.
Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel pointed out that E-rate is the largest educational technology program in the nation. She noted three key objectives for reform: a focus on speed (100 Mbps in the short term and 1 Gbps in the long term); streamlining of the application process; spending smartly by eliminating, for example, paging and voice service; and spending more in total. She acknowledged that she and her FCC colleagues needed to have more discussion about increasing the level of E-rate funding. She also endorsed the concept of multi-year applications to allow long-term planning and to cut in half the administrative cost borne by USAC and program participants.
Richard Culatta, Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the US Department of Education, emphasized that the E-rate program’s reform is not about broadband itself. He stressed that the broadband initiative is a means to reach educational goals and that any sentence about broadband should conclude with the educational purpose the broadband enables.
The first panel of speakers included two school district superintendents, a library system executive director (who was Librarian of the Year), and the Executive Director of the National Indian Education Association (“NIEA”). FCC staff asked the first three panelists to describe how they use high-speed broadband to improve the services they provide and how they obtain resources beyond E-rate. They acknowledged that budget decisions are difficult, underscoring the need to inform the community-at-large how technology enables learning and the need to economize, perhaps through consortia. The NIEA representative said there are few E-rate success stories in Indian country and asked the Commission to remember their special needs as they pursue reform. With a Commission goal of 99% connectivity, the Indian nations are concerned that their tribes will be the one percent that lacks connectivity.
The second larger panel of experts was comprised of individuals in technology leadership positions in schools and libraries ranging from a large urban district (Philadelphia) to a consortium spanning large geographic areas (Panhandle Area Educational Consortium, FL). The FCC staff raised questions with the panelists about specific information regarding installations, upgrading of equipment, and the financing of WiFi networks. There was an emphasis on the roles consortia can play in making services more affordable. It seemed likely that the FCC was making the case for the various provisions they are contemplating for the upcoming modernization order.