Schools, Libraries Fight to Preserve E-Rate in Major Battle at FCC
Advocates urge stakeholders to contact lawmakers as the Republican-led agency considers changes to the $2.5 billion broadband subsidy.
WASHINGTON, July 17, 2026 – A campaign to preserve the nation’s largest school and library broadband subsidy is intensifying.
Advocates have launched a coordinated effort to mobilize opposition to the Federal Communications Commission’s proposed changes to E-Rate, the $2.5 billion federal program that helps more than 100,000 schools and 11,000 libraries pay for broadband service. Supporters said the FCC’s proceeding, adopted June 25, poses the most serious threat to the program in decades.
During a webinar hosted Thursday by the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition, the coalition unveiled new advocacy tools designed to help schools, libraries, and other stakeholders participate in the FCC’s rulemaking process, including guidance on filing comments with the FCC and contacting members of Congress.
The group encouraged supporters to begin preparing responses ahead of the formal comment deadline, which has not yet been set.
The FCC’s proposal asks whether E-Rate should be narrowed, limited to certain communities, or eliminated altogether. The FCC is also seeking input on issues including student screen time, internet filtering requirements, and oversight of program consultants.
“If the FCC actually has their way, this will blow a crater-sized hole in school and library budgets around the country,” said Joey Wender, executive director of the SHLB Coalition. “We cannot let that happen.”
Much of the webinar focused on mobilizing supporters to participate in the rulemaking process.
Danny Vinik, telecommunications policy adviser to Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., described the FCC proceeding as “extremely alarming” and “a direct attack on the program itself.” Markey authored the 1996 telecommunications law that created E-Rate and has long championed the program.
Vinik argued that the proceeding risks pitting urban and rural communities against one another by asking whether support should be limited to rural areas or places with limited broadband competition.
“It's an attempt to potentially divide urban and rural districts, despite the fact that this program is needed across every community,” Vinik said.
He also criticized the FCC's discussion of student screen time, saying concerns about children's technology use “cannot be a backdoor to weaken or dismantle the program that keeps schools and libraries connected.” He called the rulemakings’ references to screen time “a smokescreen” for reducing broadband support.
Representatives from national education and library organizations echoed those concerns.
Lisa Varga, chief advocacy officer for the American Library Association, said nearly every public library now depends on E-Rate support for broadband and warned that eliminating the program would disproportionately affect rural and low-income communities.
Varga said ALA has already generated more than 9,000 contacts to members of Congress through its advocacy campaign and encouraged library leaders to invite lawmakers to visit their facilities during the August congressional recess.
Noelle Ellerson Ng, chief advocacy and governance officer for AASA–The School Superintendents Association, called E-Rate “foundational” to modern school operations. Beyond classroom instruction, she said schools rely on internet connectivity for transportation systems, building security, payroll processing, heating and cooling controls, and emergency communications.
“It's not a question of schools just going without internet,” Ellerson Ng said. “They'll make cuts elsewhere.”
SHLB Policy Counsel Kristen Corra outlined several issues raised in the FCC's proposal, including whether E-Rate should be eliminated entirely, limited to rural areas, modified to address student screen time concerns, or accompanied by stricter Children's Internet Protection Act requirements and increased oversight of consultants participating in the program.
Corra said comments will be due 60 days after publication of the proposal in the Federal Register, with reply comments due 30 days later. Until then, she encouraged stakeholders to prepare personalized comments that explain how E-Rate affects their schools, libraries, and communities.
