Tech. Advances Prompt Proposed Changes for E-Rate Rules

FCC Asking for Public Comment on Federal Telecommunications Aid

The federal E-rate program , which provides financial support for telecommunications in schools and libraries, faces a new round of tweaks by its congressionally appointed overseer, the Federal Communications Commission, to bring the program up to date with technological advances.

In a “notice of proposed rulemaking,” or NPRM, published Aug. 19 in the Federal Register, the FCC has invited comment on a slate of topics that could lead to changes to the 11-year-old program, which was launched in 1997. Close observers of the “education-rate,” the largest federal program to help schools pay for technology, say the FCC is trying to update the program to address technological advances such as text messaging, advanced network firewalls, anti-virus or anti-spam software, telephone broadcast messaging, and wireless Internet-access applications.

Classifying and reclassifying some telecommunications products and services is likely to redirect some portion of the $2.25 billion in discounts awarded annually by the Universal Services Administrative Corp., which manages the E-rate, to new types of technology. As it is, discounts paid to vendors that do work for schools and are funded by telecommunications rate payers, run from 20 percent to 90 percent, depending on the...