The Supreme Court Could Cut Off Classroom Internet Connections
The Supreme Court has the cable cutter
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For almost thirty years, the E-Rate program has made internet connectivity available to schools and libraries across the country. Now the Supreme Court could decide to end that program.
The program was authorized as part of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, with the FCC deciding to fund E-Rate through the pool of money collected from service providers for the Universal Service Fund. The idea was to increase internet connectivity for classrooms and libraries, particularly those serving low-income or rural populations. The USF also funds connectivity services for rural health care, remote communities, and low-income households.
The effect was immediate. According to a Congressional Research Service report, the requests for E-Rate funding, amounting to $2,02 billion, outstripped the program funding immediately. The percentage of public schools with internet access, according to a U.S. Department of Education survey, went from 35% in 1994 to 95% in 1999. Over that same period, internet access in actual classrooms went from 3% to 63%.
The program has allowed schools that could not have managed internet connectivity for their students, and that can be transformative (I taught at one such school).
The challenge to that program comes from Federal Communications Commission v. Consumers' Research. It's an appeal of a decision from the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that found in favor of Consumers' Research, a DC-based conservative advocacy group. The argument is laid out simply in the first paragraph of the decision:
In the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress delegated its taxing power to the Federal Communications Commission. FCC then subdelegated the taxing power to a private corporation. That private corporation, in turn, relied on for-profit telecommunications companies to determine how much American citizens would be forced to pay for the 'universal service' tax that appears on cell phone bills across the Nation. We hold this misbegotten tax violates Article I, § 1 of the Constitution.
The Supreme Court has heard the case, which brought out a host of amicus briefs. The states of Alaska and Colorado argued that loss of internet access to its very rural population would be disastrous. Many groups representing schools, communities and libraries argued to overturn the Fifth Circuit decision. The National Leaguer of Cities made their plea:
The potential loss of USF program benefits posed by the decision below would severely harm the economies of local communities and decrease the overall quality of life for local governments' residents. A less connected community is a less educated, less employed, and less healthy community.
Briefs from a host of right-leaning groups like Americans for Prosperity, the National Taxpayers Union, and the New Civil Liberties Alliance all argue that the USF is unconstitutional. The language in these briefs is heated. 'The rule restores the Constitution's original meaning,' writes the ADF, 'at a time when it is sorely needed.' Advancing American Freedom invokes the founders and the abuse of 'taxation without representation.'
A decision is expected in the nest few weeks. The impact of ending E-Rate programs would send shockwaves through classrooms across the country. At best, it would require Congress to restructure the entire funding mechanism for the program. At worst, it would cast thousands of districts serving rural and low-income students back out of the twenty-first century. Mark Walsh at Education Week says the court has signaled it is 'unlikely to upend' the program. School districts across the country are hoping he's correct.
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