Several educators asked the FCC to refrain from using the...

and ongoing work of E-Rate, causing delays in the program’s application and appeal processes, creating auditing problems” and resulting in “problematic precedents for E-Rate’s eligible services,” three of the letters said. The letters, sent by representatives of school districts in Alaska, Ohio, Maryland and Indiana, expressed concern that funding digital literacy training would require reallocating support from basic telecom services, further straining a program that is already “over subscribed and under funded.” Representatives from the Education and Libraries Networks Coalition met with Wireline Bureau officials Thursday to encourage the commission to make digital literacy a priority, but to fund the pilot through other parts of the USF (http://xrl.us/bm6zz2). “The vastly oversubscribed E-Rate program could not afford to fund any other services no matter how meritorious,” its ex parte filing said, arguing the addition would set bad precedent of using E-rate dollars for services “not directly focused on the delivery to schools and libraries of basic conduit access to the Internet."