As children and teachers head back to school, they are relying on an increasing number of wireless devices as educational tools in the classroom. Whether tablets, MacBooks, laptops, or smartphones, effective use of these devices in today’s K-12 environment means a network has never been more critical. While Wi-Fi availability may not be the most pressing concern in all K-12 districts, there are still many school systems wanting to provide reliable wireless access to students, faculty and guests, but struggling to do so.
The Birth of the E-Rate Program
To help address this issue, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1996 developed the Schools and Libraries Universal Service Support program, commonly known as the E-Rate program, which is managed by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). The program’s goal is to help schools and libraries obtain affordable telecommunications services, whether it is the broadband Internet access coming into the building (Category 1) or internal network connections (Category 2) powering the devices within the classroom. The E-Rate program provides discounts ranging from 20 percent to 90 percent of the costs of eligible services. Traditionally, all funding had been devoted to Category 1 funding for broadband connections, leaving little to no money for the internal Wi-Fi and switching equipment purchases (Category 2).
Managed Services and E-Rate
In recent years, the FCC has made sweeping changes to the E-Rate program, greatly expanding the opportunity for K-12 school districts to implement ubiquitous Internet access within the classroom. Accompanying these changes are billions of dollars in funding over the next several years to ensure school districts can fund their Wi-Fi and switching projects.
Here is some background on the new E-Rate program:
- Starting in 2014, the FCC committed $2 billion to funding Wi-Fi projects over the next two years, and $5 billion over the next five years, resulting in a significant increase in applications and funding for Category 2 requests
- Rural and urban school districts will most benefit from this new funding, as the eligibility for E-rate is based upon the percentage of students in the district eligible for the National School Lunch Program
- For the first time, the FCC is allowing a managed network service as an option for schools to consider when implementing a wireless network
- The program allocates a budget of $150 per student over five funding years, or $30 per student annually for managed network services
