E-Rate Central

E-Rate Central E-Rate Central provides e-rate consulting, compliance and forms processing services for e-rate applicants.

E-Rate Central is dedicated to simplifying the E-rate program for schools and libraries. Sign up for our weekly newsletter at: http://www.e-ratecentral.com/subscribe.asp

This week in E-Rate: the record is filling up.More than 100 comments were filed with the FCC last week alone in support ...
08/26/2026

This week in E-Rate: the record is filling up.

More than 100 comments were filed with the FCC last week alone in support of the E-Rate program — and thousands more are needed before the October 13 deadline.

We break down where FY 2026 funding stands, what's next for the Cybersecurity Pilot Program, and how E-Rate Central's Comment Compass can help you file your own comment.

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 in the link below. 👇

First Step Internet, LLC built 23 miles of fiber to Idaho's Deary School District, later extended to Bovill. By its own ...
08/26/2026

First Step Internet, LLC built 23 miles of fiber to Idaho's Deary School District, later extended to Bovill. By its own account, that line would not have been commercially viable without E-Rate — the program didn't just subsidize the business case, it created one.

That's the case for E-Rate in the parts of this docket that don't cite a nine-figure statewide number: it's what makes rural build-out pencil out at all.

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


SHLB Coalition Consortium for School Networking (CoSN)

Five supervisors. One letter to the FCC.For residents without broadband at home, the county library is the connection — ...
08/24/2026

Five supervisors. One letter to the FCC.

For residents without broadband at home, the county library is the connection — job seekers, seniors, veterans, immigrants, whoever walks in.

Their letter's on the record. Add yours — links in comments.


SHLB Coalition American Library Association Public Library Association (PLA) California Library Association County of Monterey, California

08/22/2026

Missed this week's stories? A regional consortium. A state coordinator. Two libraries. One school district. Five different voices, one week on the record — catch up in under a minute.

Comments on E-Rate's future are due October 13.

Add your voice with Comment Compass, our free guided tool — links to this and the Comment Compass are in the comments.

American Library Association Public Library Association (PLA) AASA, The School Superintendents Association ASBO International Texas Library Association Missouri Library Association (MLA) Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) SETDA

No city hall. No tax base. One library anyway.Lakehills Area Library serves three unincorporated Texas communities, Pipe...
08/22/2026

No city hall. No tax base. One library anyway.

Lakehills Area Library serves three unincorporated Texas communities, Pipe Creek, Lakehills, and Mico, that have no local government of their own.

Its only public funding is a $93,000 county grant, plus donations. Losing E-Rate would add $800 a year that the library says would otherwise go to books and programs.

Make your voice heard using the Comment Compass linked at the top of our website. Links to it and the filing are in the comments below.

American Library Association Public Library Association (PLA) Texas Library Association SHLB Coalition

90%. The maximum E-Rate discount...and it's available in a city as easily as in a remote town.Christine Griffin, Assista...
08/20/2026

90%. The maximum E-Rate discount...and it's available in a city as easily as in a remote town.

Christine Griffin, Assistant Superintendent for Business at Victor Central Schools in New York, told the FCC the discount formula already weighs poverty and locale together.

Her point: a high-poverty school in a city already qualifies for the same steep discount as one in a remote community. A rural-only rule would cut off exactly the places E-Rate was built to reach.

Make your voice heard using the Comment Compass linked at the top of our website. Links to it and this filing are in the comments!

ASBO International AASA, The School Superintendents Association SHLB Coalition

41,674 residents. One two-county library system is bringing them reliable internet.Michelle Mears has been the director ...
08/20/2026

41,674 residents. One two-county library system is bringing them reliable internet.

Michelle Mears has been the director at Rolling Hills Library in northwest Missouri for 23 years.

Her warning to the FCC: without E-Rate, libraries “would only be able to afford the slowest and least reliable internet connection.”
Not losing access outright; losing the version of it that actually works.

Make your voice heard using the Comment Compass linked at the top of our website. Links to the Compass and this filing are in the comments.
American Library Association Public Library Association (PLA) Missouri Library Association (MLA)

One statewide application covers all 57 county school districts. Break it up, and the savings go with it.The FCC recogni...
08/18/2026

One statewide application covers all 57 county school districts. Break it up, and the savings go with it.

The FCC recognized in 2014 that consortia drive prices down and adopted rules to encourage consortia and bulk purchasing. Fifty-seven districts buying alone are unlikely to match what the state network negotiated together.

West Virginia Department of Education’s FY 2026 commitment is $3.4 million, per USAC data. State E-Rate Coordinator Mary Aldridge told the FCC that removing it would push those costs down to counties, “drastically affecting” their budgets.

Make your voice heard using the Comment Compass linked at the top of our website. Links to the Compass and this filing are in the comments.

CCSSO - The Council of Chief State School Officers SHLB Coalition SETDA

1.8 million students. Sixteen regional IT centers. One filing.Ohio's Information Technology Centers filed jointly. Their...
08/17/2026

1.8 million students. Sixteen regional IT centers. One filing.

Ohio's Information Technology Centers filed jointly. Their numbers: more than $2.2 billion in E-Rate support to Ohio schools and libraries since 1998, including $82 million in FY 2025 alone.

Their warning is that cuts would land hardest on instruction, day-to-day operations, and the shared cybersecurity services provided by the consortium that smaller districts could never fund alone.

Make your voice heard using the Comment Compass linked at the top of our website. Link in the comments!

Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) SHLB Coalition

This week in E-Rate: the comment clock is running.The FCC has finally set the deadlines for the E-Rate NPRM/FNPRM — init...
08/17/2026

This week in E-Rate: the comment clock is running.

The FCC has finally set the deadlines for the E-Rate NPRM/FNPRM — initial comments due October 13, reply comments due November 12.

We break down what's at stake, how E-Rate Central's Comment Compass can help you file your own comment (not a template), and where FY 2026 funding stands.

Follow our weekday series, E-Rate: On the Record, for a new filer story as we near the deadline.

Full breakdown in the link below. 👇

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