WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Communications Commission voted 2-1 to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes scaling back or eliminating the E-Rate program. The E-Rate program is a Universal Service initiative that distributes over $2 billion annually to provide discounts for telecommunications services and equipment in schools and libraries.

The public draft of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking asks for public comment on whether the E-Rate program should be limited or sunset. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr stated that changes to E-Rate are necessary due to concerns about students' screen time, citing data that more than half of students use a computer for up to four hours a day, and a quarter spend more than four hours on screens. "Over the last decade, school districts across the country experimented with a massive increase in screen time for students," Carr said. Carr also said, "We seek comment on whether the program should be reoriented in light of all of the above developments, as well as the increase in connectivity to schools and libraries across the country since 1997."

Commissioner Anna Gomez requested that language seeking comment on whether to sunset the program be removed from the proposal. The FCC Chairman's office declined this request. Gomez stated, "These proposals reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the challenges schools and libraries face today and reveal a striking cognitive dissonance at the core of this item."

The FCC implemented the E-Rate program in 1997 after Congress authorized it through the 1996 Telecommunications Act. The program offers discounts ranging from 20 percent to 90 percent for eligible services and equipment and has a funding cap of $5.2 billion. E-Rate and other Universal Service Fund programs are financed by fees imposed on phone companies.

The FCC ended funding for schools and libraries to lend out Wi-Fi hotspots last year, and also stopped funding Wi-Fi service on school buses last year. U.S. Senator Ed Markey stated that the FCC proposal undermines educational equality and threatens to reverse three decades of settled law.