Educational Groups Press FCC to OK Waivers for Off-Campus E-Rate Support
Educational advocates urged the FCC to approve waivers allowing E-rate USF discounts to be applied to students' off-campus connectivity. Waiver petitions would extend E-rate benefits without adding cost to the USF because the services couldn't be overprovisioned, said various groups.…
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"The petitioners only seek to use the excess services that are left unused after school hours," said representatives of the Benton Foundation, Georgetown Law Institute for Public Representation and Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition in a filing posted Monday in docket 13-184 on a meeting with Wireline Bureau staffers. "The participants stressed that many schools that want to extend broadband connectivity to students’ homes choose not to out of concern they may lose their E-rate funding due to lack of clarity in the rules. The Commission should clarify or waive the cost-allocation rule to allow off-campus use, encouraging more schools to help bridge the homework gap." Comments on petitions from Microsoft and Colorado's Boulder Valley School District have been mostly favorable, but ILECs have voiced opposition and NCTA and others have expressed concerns or sought certain safeguards (see 1612060057).