CoSN CEO Keith Krueger today issued the following statement regarding the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) update to the E-Rate Category Two program:
“CoSN applauds the FCC for updating the E-Rate Category Two program to better support small, rural school districts by increasing their funding floor. We are also grateful the program will maintain its existing funding model while now allowing the use of district-wide budgets, as this will streamline school operations.
“We are troubled, however, that the FCC missed another opportunity to fund school districts’ critical cybersecurity needs. The FCC could have helped schools deal with increasing cyberattacks by expanding the list of E-Rate eligible services to include cybersecurity protections. We commend FCC Commissioners Rosenworcel and O’Rielly for their leadership on this issue and urge them to continue pushing for greater network security in schools.
“CoSN also hopes that in a future rulemaking, the FCC will recognize the immense learning potential that comes from equipping rural school buses with WiFi by expanding E-Rate eligibility to this service as well.
“America’s edtech leaders will continue to work with the FCC and other stakeholders on securely using the power of technology for the educational benefit of all students.”
Read CoSN’s recent joint Reply Comments on E-Rate Category Two eligible services submitted to the FCC here.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Heidi Payter, hpayter@fratelli.com, 202-822-9491
About CoSN
CoSN (the Consortium for School Networking) is the premier professional association for school system technology leaders. CoSN provides thought leadership resources, community best practices and advocacy tools to help leaders succeed in the digital transformation. CoSN represents over 13 million students in school districts nationwide and continues to grow as a powerful and influential voice in K-12 education. cosn.org
