Federal School Funding Programs: The E-Rate Program for School Communication and

Technology

By
Glenn R. Moses
Education Finance and Budget
EDA 538
Walker

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of Masters in Education

University of Phoenix
2007
 The Schools and Libraries Program of the Universal Service Fund, commonly known as

e-rate, was created in 1996 with the goal of getting every classroom in the United States

connected to the internet by the year 2000 (E-rate - Wikipedia, Retrieved November 11, 2007).

This goal was achieved through a program which continues today. The e-rate program provides

a discount of twenty-percent to ninety-percent to schools for services such as

"telecommunications services, Internet access, and internal connections ... including 'installation

and maintenance' " (E-rate - Wikipedia, Retrieved November 11, 2007). The level of discount is

based on the percentage of students eligible for free and reduced lunch. This program has

brought technology into classrooms at a rate unseen in American educational history.

E-rate's short term plans of getting each classroom connected to the internet has had long

term impact and has created the possibility for change in the educational environment of today's

classroom. The Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, recognizes the transformational

nature of adding technology to the classroom. "Technology has great power to enhance

education" is lauded on the front page of the e-rate web-site, http://www.fcc.gov/learnnet/. Other

than the connectivity which was achieved by the year 2000 how much has changed? Does a

single computer, connected to the internet, truly enhance education? How will teachers react?

Of the three questions there are some reflections on teachers and how they their reaction;

“Teachers don’t feel they have the time for more exploratory type activities. It’s hard for more

interesting applications of technology to be implemented.” (Stover, D. 2007). Ten years into this

federally funded program let us look at how schools have been transformed by this program and

what lies ahead for the Schools and Libraries Program of the Universal Service Fund.

During the first 10 years of the e-rate program nearly nineteen billion dollars in

communications discounts have provided for schools and libraries. Today ninety-nine percent of
all schools have internet access (Borja, Rhea R. 2007). This has allowed schools across the

economic strata to bring technology, at some level, to their students. Studies of how e-rate has

impacted education have been few and shallow. This has left the e-rate program with little

oversight. Part of the reason for this is in that the FCC does not want to get involved in

educational assessment. "The bill does not include academic-performance measures, said

Barbara Pryor, a legislative assistant to Sen. Rockefeller. 'I'm not sure if [Federal

Communications Commission members] want to step into the very difficult field of educational

assessment,' she said to appreciative laughs from the audience, which packed a small hearing

room in a Senate office building" (Borja, Rhea R. 2007).

E-Rate has not gone without controversy during its ten years. There have been cases of

individuals creating ways to defraud the e-rate system. In one of these cases fines of up to

$750,000 and 60 years in prison were levied as punishment (TelecomWeb News Digest, 2007).

Defrauding federal grant programs is nothing new and not exclusive to this program. The larger

challenge facing e-rate is the new face of internet technology. Although the federal government

has created a program to get schools connected to the internet the federal legislature is beginning

to push back with bills such as the Delete Online Predators Act, also known as DOPA, which is

working on not allowing schools that receive e-rate to allow students to social networking tools

such as MySpace and Facebook. Out of one side of its mouth the federal government is telling

schools they the need to be connected to the internet. From the other side of its mouth it's telling

schools that cannot expose students to the power of connectivity which the internet allows.

The e-rate program has, most certainly, helped schools increase the amount of technology

that is in their buildings and to which students have access. This federal school funding

program, like many federal programs, is complicated and cumbersome but the outcome of this
program is apparent and the changes it has helped bring to public education will be felt for many

years to come. The educational opportunities afforded at the local school district level, when it

comes to using the internet, are nearly boundless as they flatten the world and remove the walls

of the classroom.
 References

E-rate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved November 11, 2007

Stover, D. The Role of Technology. American School Board Journal; Sep2007, Vol. 194 Issue 9,
p29-30
Borja, Rhea R. E-Rate Program, at 10, Is Lauded for Helping Wire Schools. Education Week,
3/7/2007, Vol. 26, Issue 26
E-Rate Fraudsters Plead Guilty. TelecomWeb News Digest. Feb 15, 2007