Rosenworcel has also proposed E-Rate changes to continue distance learning support
The Federal Communications Commission has parceled out another $29 million from the Emergency Connectivity Fund to connect schools and libraries, bringing the total awarded from the pandemic program to around $6.7 billion.
The U.S. government officially ended the pandemic state of emergency declaration in May, but the one-time funding programs established to support connectivity during the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic will continue to disburse their funds until they run out. The Emergency Connectivity Fund was established in 2021 to provide $7.17 billion in funding, and FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel recently said that the program will sunset next year.
This latest round of funding will provide connectivity equipment and services for about 65,000 students in California, Idaho, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota, according to the FCC. The agency says that Emergency Connectivity Funding has thus far provided support for 18 million students through 11,000 schools, more than 1,000 libraries and 120 consortia of schools and libraries. The program has been used to provide nearly 13 million connected devices and more than 8 million broadband connections.
In related news, Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel recently proposed changes to the FCC’s ongoing E-Rate program, which focuses on connecting libraries and schools, to allow that funding to be used for Wi-Fi on school buses and loans of Wi-Fi hotspots, which became part of educational institutions’ strategies to help people stay connected during the pandemic.
In a recent speech to the American Library Association, Rosenworcel called the E-Rate program a “quiet powerhouse” that the FCC has periodically updated to reflect current connectivity needs—and that additional support for Wi-Fi is needed so that libraries and schools can continue to leverage some of the connectivity strategies that emerged during the pandemic, even when the Emergency Connectivity Fund runs out.
“Libraries were investing in this kind of connectivity before the creation of the
Emergency Connectivity Fund,” she told the ALA. “But during the pandemic it went from being something on the side to being central to your efforts to support information and opportunity for all. There are things we take with us out of the pandemic. Like the way libraries rallied communities, offered services to get online, and doubled down on getting Wi-Fi hotspots to help their patrons connect.” In order to do so, the E-Rate program rules have to be modified to allow such uses.
