22 Wisconsin Libraries Warn FCC Against E-Rate Cuts
Changes to the federal broadband subsidy could raise costs and squeeze public services, libraries warn.
WASHINGTON, August 11, 2026 – Wisconsin libraries are pushing back against a federal review that could reduce support for their internet connections.
Twenty-two public libraries across southeastern Wisconsin filed joint comments Friday with the Federal Communications Commission opposing any move to terminate or restrict the E-Rate program, a roughly $2.5 billion federal subsidy that helps three-quarters of U.S. libraries, and nearly all public schools, pay for internet access and telecommunications services.
“If the FCC terminates or limits E-Rate funding, libraries throughout Wisconsin will be forced to seek other sources of bandwidth from providers that are far less stable, and possibly far less responsive,” the libraries wrote, adding that the shift would drive up administrative costs tied to procuring comparable connections.
“For many libraries, even a small increase in the monthly bill can mean cuts to services elsewhere,” the coalition wrote.
The letter responds to a sweeping FCC proceeding opened June 25, when the commission voted to review the nearly 30-year-old E-Rate program, asking whether the program has fulfilled its mission and whether eligibility or funding levels should change.
The FCC’s own Wireline Competition Bureau chief recently reaffirmed that a sweeping overhaul of the roughly $2.5 billion program remains on the table, hinting “large scale changes” may be coming in a July 30 post.
“Responsible governance sometimes means asking whether a program continues to serve its purpose, is still consistent with the statutory goal provided by Congress, and whether there is a need for large scale changes,” Bureau Chief Joseph Calascione wrote.
The Wisconsin filing adds to a growing volume of comments from schools, libraries and advocacy groups nationwide urging the FCC to preserve the discount program, which has been a fixture of federal telecommunications policy since 1997 and remains a primary funding mechanism for closing the digital divide in underserved communities.
Signatories on the Wisconsin letter include the Racine Public Library, Beloit Public Library, Hedberg Public Library in Janesville, and libraries in Burlington, Delavan, Lake Geneva, Elkhorn and other communities across Racine, Rock and Walworth counties.
The libraries argue E-Rate underwrites core infrastructure, not just public internet access for patrons, but “all aspects of library service delivery,” including wide-area networks, online catalogs and library websites, and growing demand for library-loaned ebooks and audiobooks.
Advocates push back on the screen-time framing
The FCC’s formal rulemaking is formally titled Ensuring Children’s Safe Use of Screens and E-Rate-Funded Services, reflecting the FCC’s parallel interest in revisiting the Children’s Internet Protection Act and proposing screen-time restrictions as a condition of funding. The Wisconsin libraries’ letter does not address that piece of the proceeding.
School and library advocates have criticized the FCC’s reasoning as a smokescreen, arguing that a federal review of CIPA would be unlikely to produce better outcomes for schools and libraries.
Noelle Ellerson Ng, chief advocacy and governance officer at AASA, the School Superintendents Association, has argued the screen-time question is a curriculum matter, not a connectivity one.
“Screen time, at its core, is a curriculum decision. E-Rate is a connectivity program. The FCC is not the agency tasked with answering questions about education, education pedagogy, and curriculum,” Ng told Education Week.
Joseph Wender, executive director of the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition, made a similar argument last month, saying decisions about student screen time belong with local school boards and educators, not the FCC, and that the two issues are otherwise unconnected.
Advocates so far have called for retaining the FCC’s existing reading of the law, saying it allows communities to set appropriate standards for children’s internet safety.
Under the current framework, the federal law sets baseline internet safety requirements, but schools and libraries retain substantial discretion to develop and enforce their own policies based on local needs.
Libraries have also voiced concern over provisions that would require them to self-certify compliance through federal portals, an administrative task that many libraries do not currently handle in-house.
SHLB and partners launched a national Save Our E-Rate campaign after the FCC vote, urging libraries, schools, and advocates to submit comments and defend the program during the rulemaking process.
E-Rate reaches the overwhelming majority of the institutions it was built to serve: more than 96 percent of the nation’s public schools participate, along with 73 percent of public library locations, according to Funds for Learning, an E-Rate consulting firm.
