2/23 FCC Reply Comments Urging Expansion of E-Rate to Address Homework Gap During Pandemic

New America's Open Technology Institute wrote and filed reply comments with New America's Education Policy Program, Public Knowledge, Consumer Reports, Common Sense, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, and Access Humboldt (together Public Interest Organizations, or PIOs) urging the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) responding to arguments in the record and reiterating the urgent call for the FCC to grant emergency permission for schools and libraries to use support from the E-Rate program to provide broadband service to students who lack access at home for the purpose of remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. OTI wrote and filed comments for a coalition of public interest organizations in this same proceeding earlier in February and filed a petition with several allies led by the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition calling for the FCC to extend E-Rate support for the purposes of remote learning in January.

Available below is the introduction and summary of the reply comments:

The PIOs submit these reply comments to highlight the diverse and widespread support in the record for the petitions requesting that the Commission increase E-Rate funding and flexibility to enable schools and libraries to provide broadband connectivity for students to facilitate remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The Commission has the statutory authority to provide all the requested relief, including supplemental funding and a waiver of cost allocation rules and other restrictions so that schools and libraries can choose the best ways to bridge the homework gap given their local circumstances and needs.

The record clearly shows diverse and extensive support for the relief proposed in the petition filed by the Schools, Health, Libraries Broadband (SHLB) Coalition, OTI and other nonprofit groups (“SHLB et al. Petition”), as well as the similar relief sought in petitions filed by the states of Colorado and Nevada. The support for emergency Commission relief consistent with these petitions spans public interest groups, civil rights organizations, large and small telecommunications providers (“ISPs”), technology companies, local governments, local school districts, and libraries. Comments supporting the petitions highlight the educational impact that implementation of this policy would bring. The record demonstrates widespread consensus that the Commission has the legal authority to grant the petitions and to expand E-Rate-supported connectivity off-campus for the essential educational purpose of bridging the homework gap.

The Commission should ensure that supplemental E-Rate funding for remote learning is technologically neutral and does not pick winners and losers among networking technologies or service providers. Local schools and libraries should be given the flexibility and discretion to use whatever combination of technologies and services they determine will be most effective to facilitate remote learning in their community. Schools and libraries are in the best position to understand the needs of their students and teachers, as well as the physical characteristics of their local area, sources of complementary funding, availability of commercial offerings, and many other factors that impact the decision of how best to extend reliable remote learning connections to student and staff. Schools and libraries should be permitted to pursue whatever solution they determine to be most reliable and cost-effective, as the record demonstrates.

Accordingly, there is strong support in the record for the Commission to be technology neutral and to authorize E-Rate funds to support the widest possible range of technologies, equipment, services, and devices that school districts, schools, and libraries might seek to employ for expanding broadband access. Further, the Commission should reject self-interested arguments opposing the self-provisioning of broadband network connectivity, which has already proven reliable and cost-effective in many low-income school districts, some of which were highlighted in the comments of the Public Interest Organizations. 3 The Wireline Bureau’s cost allocation waiver and Declaratory Order providing additional funds should adopt a neutral and inclusive description of eligible services and equipment that gives schools and libraries full flexibility, including the ability to combine different approaches based on local circumstances.

There is also strong support in the record for waiving of the competitive bidding requirements. The PIOs call on the Commission to relax E-Rate rules to streamline the process for schools to offer off-campus connectivity as rapidly as possible. A post-hoc review would meet the emergency nature of the remote learning crisis far better than a cumbersome application or approval process. The record strongly supports the Bureau opening a relatively brief special application window as soon as practicable.

Finally, the Commission should ensure that it includes libraries in its final rules seeking to bridge the homework gap by extending broadband connectivity for remote learning. Libraries have developed several novel and community-driven solutions to further broadband access in their localities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Libraries are pillars of their communities—and before the pandemic they often served as the lynchpin for internet access and education services for entire communities. Since students are typically not able to visit libraries to use their internet for homework, research, and even (during the pandemic) to conduct remote learning sessions, the Commission should use this opportunity to leverage the role of libraries in its efforts to bridge the homework gap and ensure libraries are able to offer those crucial services to constituents.