Wheeler Likely Doesn’t Have Votes Lined Up Yet for E-Rate Order
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is trying to line up votes in favor of E-rate reform for action at the agency’s July 11 open meeting. It’s unclear whether Wheeler will be able to get Republican support for the changes, dedicating $1 billion to Wi-Fi in 2015, industry and agency officials said Tuesday. To that end, Wheeler is emphasizing that his proposal does not increase the E-rate budget, but relies on $2 billion commission staff recently found has been set aside for E-rate but never spent.
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Education groups are raising concerns that Wheeler has not laid out how the investment in Wi-Fi will be funded after two years (CD June 24 p10). “The chairman is missing the opportunity to seize the moment and truly address the items that will bring broadband to the communities who need it the most,” said the National Education Association in a news release (http://bit.ly/TgdGHE). Other education groups have supported the proposal, including the Council of Chief State School Officers, Foundation for Excellence in Education and Alliance for Excellent Education.
FCC Republicans Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly both voted no on proposed net neutrality rules and the incentive auction orders at the FCC’s May meeting, and both acknowledge they played little role in shaping those items. Both are indicating they're open minded on E-rate reform and willing to negotiate, FCC officials told us. Pai told an FCBA lunch last week he hopes the FCC can move forward on a bipartisan basis on E-rate reform (CD June 19 p1).
One agency official said Wheeler likely doesn’t have three votes now for the E-rate order and still must put together a coalition, working with Republicans or Democrats. While President Barack Obama last year made E-rate expansion a top priority, the order proposed by Wheeler has little to do with Obama’s goal of making high-speed Internet available to enough schools and libraries to connect 99 percent of American students, the official said. But a second agency official said Obama’s ConnectED initiative (http://1.usa.gov/1wtRhFx) discusses the importance of Wi-Fi in schools.
Former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell said a united commission approved an NPRM examining USF reform and intercarrier compensation in February 2011, under former Chairman Julius Genachowski (CD Feb 9/11 p1). “As illustrated during the Genachowski commission there’s ample opportunity for bipartisan consensus on universal service reforms,” he said. “Generally speaking, however, Republicans will strongly resist any perceived expansion of an entitlement. Nonetheless, they could be open to discussions regarding modernizing Congressionally mandated subsidies if those improvements bring cost efficiencies and a net savings to the fund."
Wheeler’s proposed order seems aimed at garnering bipartisan support while putting initial changes in place in time for the 2015 funding cycle, said Danielle Kehl, policy analyst at the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute. “Improving Internet service at schools and libraries should be the type of thing that both Democrats and Republicans can get behind, regardless of whether it’s an election year.” Kehl said Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel has also made E-rate reform a top priority. Kehl predicted the FCC’s July order will address “some, but not all” the proposals for reform that have emerged. OTI has called for improved connectivity, but also supports a “streamlined” application process and “immediate infrastructure investments, clear capacity targets, better data collection, and adequate support for the fund in the long run,” Kehl said. “We're interested in what happens at the upcoming open meeting as well as down the road to upgrade E-rate."
E-rate is a “politically popular program which has historically had bipartisan support,” said Andrew Schwartzman, senior counselor at Georgetown Law’s Institute for Public Representation. Pai and O'Rielly likely want to be able to vote yes, he said.
Berin Szoka, president of TechFreedom, said Pai and O'Rielly were ignored during the net neutrality and incentive auction debates. Pai has repeatedly laid out his proposal for E-rate reform, “focused on students rather than bureaucracy,” Szoka said. “I think it’s really up to the chairman as to whether he’s willing to do more than tinker around the edges,” he said. “If he’s willing to radically simplify the application process, for example, E-rate reform will be bipartisan."
Doug Brake, telecom policy analyst at The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, said Wheeler likely will work with Pai, given his interest in E-rate reform. “There are some reforms that are obviously needed: simplifying the application process, having schools put some skin in the game, transitioning to modern technologies, cutting waste, etc.,” he said. All are obvious enough they are beyond bipartisan debate, Brake said. “I very much hope that the commission comes to a sensible order that recognizes the legitimate concerns over fiscal responsibility even if new funds aren’t 100 percent offset elsewhere in USF.”