E-Rate Central

10/13/2026

10/13/2026

This week in E-Rate: the NPRM comment deadline, E-Rate’s economic impact, and funding.

Initial comments in the FCC’s E-Rate NPRM are due TODAY, Tuesday, October 13. A 30-day reply comment period follows, running through November 12, and E-Rate Central’s Comment Compass is being updated so applicants can use it to file reply comments too.

A new SHLB-commissioned economic study estimates that every $1 cut from E-Rate would reduce U.S. economic activity by about $1.60. Eliminating the program’s roughly $2.6 billion in annual support would cut real GDP by about $4.2 billion a year.

FY 2026: As of Wave 24, USAC has funded 87.7% of applications submitted, representing 62.2% of the dollars requested.
FY 2025: As of Wave 73, USAC has funded 98.3% of applications submitted, representing 94.7% of the dollars requested.

Full breakdown in the link in the comments below.

10/09/2026

Thank you to everyone who stopped by the E-Rate Central booth this week to talk NPRMs, the impact if funding is lost, and what’s ahead for E-Rate. The conversations at SHLB Coalition matter, and we’re glad to have been part of them.

We were proud to support as a gold sponsor. The SHLB Coalition brings schools, libraries, and the broader broadband community together, and that work is worth investing in.

10/09/2026

Four campuses. One ask to the FCC: don't just preserve E-Rate connectivity — expand what it covers.

Omar Claxton, Director of Technology for Our World Neighborhood Charter Schools in Queens, New York, argues E-Rate is workforce-readiness infrastructure and assistive-technology access for students with disabilities, not just a connectivity subsidy. His specific ask: let E-Rate-eligible services grow to include cybersecurity and threat-prevention infrastructure.

Secure connectivity, he argues, is the baseline now — not just connectivity.
Make your voice heard. Links to the Comment Compass and this filing are both in the comments below.



SHLB Coalition · Our World Neighborhood Charter School

10/08/2026

A pilot's license. An Amazon docuseries. A robotics program. All running on the network E-Rate funds in one small Tennessee district.

Elizabethton City Schools, about 2,500 students across 5 schools, is technically classified “Urban” by the Census Bureau despite being small and rural — a reclassification risk it says it can't afford. Software costs are up 5-10% and hardware 40-100% in recent years, and the district plans years ahead just to cover the non-discounted share of its network purchases.

The flight program, the sociology-class docuseries, the nursing and robotics tracks — all of it rides on the same connection now up for debate.

Make your voice heard. Links to the Comment Compass and this filing are both in the comments below.



SHLB Coalition · AASA, The School Superintendents Association · Elizabethton City Schools

10/07/2026

63% of charter-school students nationally are economically disadvantaged. Their national association told the FCC the cuts under discussion would land hardest on them.

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools says charters, often operating out of converted commercial buildings, face higher per-pupil connectivity costs than districts that can spread expenses across many schools. It also ties E-Rate directly to school safety: emergency communication, mass notification, door access control and camera systems all run on E-Rate-funded broadband.

Not discretionary purchases. Load-bearing ones.

Make your voice heard. Links to the Comment Compass and this filing are both in the comments below.


SHLB Coalition I National Alliance for Public Charter Schools

10/06/2026

100+ staff positions cut. Unpaid furlough days. And still, $3.7 million a year in E-Rate support the district says it can't replace.

Cincinnati's Treasurer/CFO, Michael Gustin, told the FCC that 90.76% of the district's 33,000 students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch — the poverty level behind its 90% discount rate — and that E-Rate funds the network and Wi-Fi access across 63 sites the district could not otherwise afford.

His point to the Commission: weigh poverty, not just geography. A high-poverty city district carries the same need as a rural one.

Make your voice heard. Links to the Comment Compass and this filing are both in the comments below.



SHLB Coalition · AASA, The School Superintendents Association · Cincinnati Public Schools

10/06/2026

This week in E-Rate: a final push on NPRM comments, the FCC's review of USF administration, and funding.

Initial comments in the FCC's E-Rate NPRM are due October 13, and so far only California and New York have filed at the state education department level. E-Rate Central's Comment Compass makes it easy to file. See comments for the link.

Initial comments on the FCC's review of USF administration call for greater transparency, a restored USAC ombudsman, and a simpler application process. Reply comments are due October 30.

FY 2026 funding reached $2.04 billion with Wave 23. As of Wave 23, USAC has funded 85.9% of applications submitted for FY 2026, representing 59.6% of the dollars requested. Currently, USAC has funded 98.3% of submitted FY 2025 applications, representing 94.6% of the dollars requested.

Follow our series: E-Rate: On the Record pulls one comment from the FCC docket each weekday — real stakeholders, in their own words, on what E-Rate means to them.

Full breakdown linked in the comments below.

10/05/2026

An “ongoing operational necessity.” That's how one Wisconsin district describes E-Rate — not a nice-to-have.

Stevens Point Area Public School District, serving about 7,000 students across 15 schools, told the FCC that losing E-Rate means diverting classroom and staffing dollars to cover the gap, or delaying hardware refreshes and running on “outdated, vulnerable, and unreliable infrastructure.”

Its other ask: keep E-Rate about connectivity. Screen-time decisions belong with local school boards, educators and families — not federal broadband rules.

Make your voice heard. Links to the Comment Compass and this filing are both in the comments below.



SHLB Coalition AASA, The School Superintendents Association Stevens Point Area Public School District