On June 6, 2013, President Obama announced the ConnectED initiative, a plan to connect 99 percent of U.S. students to the Internet within five years via high-speed wireless and broadband. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been called upon to “modernize and leverage” the E-rate program, including a proposed funding increase. Funds For Learning®, the nation’s largest E-rate compliance services firm, met with the FCC to submit the firm’s E-rate 2.0 proposal, which provides recommended steps for implementing ConnectED.
In October 2012, Funds For Learning released the results of a national survey of E-rate applicants. Ninety percent of survey respondents stated that the E-rate program is critical to their success, and a majority expressed concern over the lack of adequate funding for the program. Full survey results are available online here.
More information about the E-rate 2.0 proposal is online here and here. More information about ConnectED is available here and here.
