OTI Applauds FCC’s Vote to Tackle the Homework Gap by Modernizing E-Rate

In response to today’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 3-2 vote to adopt a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that updates the E-Rate program to make the lending of Wi-Fi hotspots for wireless Internet access to low-income students and library patrons eligible for program support, the Open Technology Institute (OTI) issued the following statement from Michael Calabrese, Director of the Wireless Future Project at OTI.

We applaud the FCC for taking action to modernize the E-Rate program to help close the harmful homework gap that impacts millions of low-income K-12 students. Over the past couple years, pandemic relief programs for broadband access helped connect many of these students—but now that these programs have expired, the homework gap is widening once more, putting these students at a severe academic disadvantage.

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 clearly gives the FCC authority to support the connectivity needs of schools and libraries for purely educational purposes. Just as the Obama-era FCC expanded E-Rate to connect every classroom with Wi-Fi, the Biden FCC is taking the E-Rate program one step further, addressing a homework gap that threatens to leave low-income students behind.

When teachers cannot give homework or rely on educational technology because many of their students have no internet access outside school hours, that hurts all students. Surveys and research show that when students without home internet get connected, educational outcomes improve.