SEF Files Amicus Brief Supporting Enforcement of E-Rate Program Rules
Supreme Court to hear case that would impact schools’ access to affordable internet.
October 2, 2024 – Contact: Danielle Smith, dsmith@southerneducation.org, (470) 705-9365
ATLANTA – Yesterday the Southern Education Foundation (SEF), in partnership with the Schools, Health, and Libraries Broadband Coalition, InnovateEDU, Digital Promise, and TNTP, Inc. filed an amicus brief in support of the respondent in Wisconsin Bell, Inc. v. United States of America ex rel. Todd Heath, 144 S.Ct. 2657 (2024), which is to be heard before the U.S. Supreme Court in November. The case relates to the E-Rate program, a federal subsidy that has allowed virtually all public schools and libraries in the country to afford the internet connectivity needed in today’s learning environment. The E-Rate program was established by the Federal Communications Commission in 1996 at the direction of Congress to ensure that all schools – not just those in communities of means – could afford to provide students with telecommunications services, including internet access. The case involves an action brought against Wisconsin Bell alleging the telecommunications company grossly overcharged schools and libraries for broadband services.
“Ultimately, this case is about enforcing the rules that the federal government put in place nearly thirty years ago to protect students – including those in low-income families, schools with high rates of poverty, and rural areas – from a digital cliff where their peers have the tools to succeed in the 21st century, but they do not,” said Raymond Pierce, president and CEO of the Southern Education Foundation.
The E-Rate enables subsidies on internet costs of up to 90 percent, depending on the school’s poverty level. It supports 106,000 schools and 12,500 libraries, impacting 54 million students, nearly half of whom live in the South. Without enforcement of the E-Rate program rules, students living in lower income communities would suffer disproportionately. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of the E-Rate as students were forced to learn remotely amid school closures.
From its very beginnings in the late 1860s, the mission of SEF has been to support access to public education for Black and low-income students. SEF continues that mission today with our fight to maintain the E-Rate program. A high-quality education should not be limited to communities of means but shared by all of America’s students.
SEF was represented pro bono by Goldman Ismail Tomaselli Brennan & Baum LLP in the filing of this brief.
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Founded in 1867, the Southern Education Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization supported by partners and donors committed to advancing equitable education policies and practices for students of color and students from low-income families in the South and across the nation.