WC Docket No. 26-133FCC 26-41Comments due Oct 13, 2026

E-Rate is under FCC review

A plain guide to what the Commission is asking, what is at stake for schools, what the public record shows so far, and how to file a comment.

From Charter Technology Solutions. Updated September 30, 2026.

  1. Jun 25
    FCC votes 2 to 1 to open the review
  2. Aug 14
    Notice published; comment period opens
  3. Oct 13
    Comments due
    Deadline
  4. Nov 12
    Reply comments due
  5. After
    FCC decides; current funding year unaffected

The short version

On June 25 the FCC voted 2 to 1 to open a top-to-bottom review of E-Rate, the program that has discounted school and library internet and network costs for nearly thirty years. Commissioner Gomez dissented. The Notice asks directly whether the program "should be limited or sunset."

Comments are due October 13 and reply comments November 12. Nothing changes for the current funding year while the review runs. Any change would come in a later FCC order.

The FCC frames the review around children's screen time. The docket is titled "Ensuring Children's Safe Use of Screens and E-Rate-Funded Services."

School districts, libraries and superintendents are filing in large numbers. Charter schools are not: 23 of more than 1,600 filings come from charter schools, charter networks or charter associations.

What E-Rate is, and who relies on it

E-Rate discounts what eligible schools and libraries pay for internet service and for the networks inside their buildings. It supports 96 percent of U.S. public schools and 73 percent of public library locations, and committed about $2.66 billion in funding year 2025, according to the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society.

Discounts run from 20 to 90 percent (up to 85 percent for the network inside the building), set by the share of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The highest-need schools get the deepest discounts.

The program has two parts. Category 1 brings internet service to the building. Category 2 pays for the network inside it: cabling, switches, wireless access points, firewalls and their upkeep. Category 2 runs on five-year budgets per school. In the current cycle, funding years 2026 through 2030, USAC sets each school's budget at $201.57 per student before the discount.

What the Commission is asking

  • Whether E-Rate has met its goals and should be limited or sunset, given how many schools are now connected.
  • How much schools rely on E-Rate year to year for broadband and Wi-Fi, and what would happen to affordability if support ended.
  • Whether to narrow the equipment and services E-Rate pays for, including whether school-built fiber networks crowd out private investment.
  • Whether the Children's Internet Protection Act does enough, and what else should protect children on E-Rate funded networks.
  • Program integrity, oversight of E-Rate consultants, and simpler administration.

From the Federal Register notice and the FCC's order page, which also carries the statements of Chairman Carr and Commissioners Gomez and Trusty.

Separate from this review

  • Already decided: Wi-Fi hotspot lending and school bus Wi-Fi were removed from E-Rate eligibility in 2025.
  • Already decided: a new centralized competitive bidding portal takes effect in July 2027 (GovTech).
  • Pending in court: a challenge to the legal basis for E-Rate funding, Consumers' Research v. FCC (No. 25-60535), was argued in the federal Fifth Circuit on August 5, 2026. No decision had been reported as of September 30.

Why it matters for charter schools

New schools feel it most. A new charter school has to build its whole network before the first student walks in, at the moment it has the least money it will ever have. The E-Rate discount on that network is often what makes it affordable.

Many charter schools apply for E-Rate on their own or through their network rather than through a school district, so changes to the program reach them directly. The same holds for the comment process: for those schools, no district office files on their behalf.

A closer look: New York City

$60M+
in E-Rate commitments to New York City charter schools and their networks, funding years 2022 to 2025
135 of 140
New York City charter applicants funded in 2025 at the 90 percent maximum discount
$78,000
five-year network budget for the median New York City charter school, before the discount

From USAC's public funding data, funded requests only. The dollar total counts only what can be tied to New York City charter schools, so the true figure is higher.

New York City charter schools and their networks received more than $60 million in E-Rate commitments over funding years 2022 to 2025, between $12 million and $17 million a year. Of the 140 funded as their own applicants in 2025, 135 received the maximum 90 percent discount and the other five at least 80 percent. For the median New York City charter school, the five-year network budget is about $78,000, and E-Rate pays up to 85 percent of it.

Across New York, USAC data puts funded E-Rate commitments at about $812 million over funding years 2021 to 2025, in line with the more than $800 million reported by the New York Public News Network on September 14.

The comment record so far

1,622
filings in the docket: 896 letters and 726 short express comments
23
from charter schools, charter networks and charter associations
2
from charter associations, one national and one state
3
from New York City charter operators

Counted from the FCC's public docket on September 30 by reviewing each filing that mentions charter schools. Filings have more than tripled since the end of August, from about 470. The live total is on the docket page.

Charter associations that have filed

New York City charter schools that have filed

Every charter-sector filing to date (23)

Four more charter schools co-signed a September 14 joint filing with more than 200 school districts and education agencies.

How to file

Express comment

Name, address and a few sentences typed into a form. About five minutes, no attachment.

Open the express form

Standard filing

Upload a signed letter as a PDF. Best for a letter from a school leader, a board or an association, or one that carries numbers.

Open the standard form

What makes a comment useful

  • What E-Rate pays for at your school: internet service, Wi-Fi, switches, firewalls, upkeep.
  • Your discount rate and what E-Rate covered last year, in dollars.
  • What you would cut or delay without it.
  • If your school opened recently, what you had to build before the first day of school.

Reply comments, due November 12, can respond directly to what others have filed. Every filing is public, usually the day it posts. Search all filings in the docket.

Coverage

Primary sources