Urban E-rate Designation Will Hurt Rural Schools, NTCA Says
The inclusion of “urban clusters” in the definition of “urban” in the FCC E-rate modernization order could pose problems for rural schools, NTCA Senior Vice President–Policy Michael Romano, other NTCA and local E-rate officials told aides to Commissioners Mike O’Rielly…
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and Ajit Pai, Managing Director Jon Wilkins and several Wireline Bureau officials in separate meetings Oct. 28, said an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 13-184. Romano also spoke with an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Oct. 29, the filing said. Because rural schools can get additional funding, the categorization of schools in the clusters as urban “will result in significant shifts in E-rate support for many small schools and libraries that dot the sparsely-populated rural landscape,” said NTCA. Also involved in the Oct. 28 meetings were Brian Ford, NTCA regulatory counsel; Debra Kriete, the South Dakota E-rate coordinator; and Julie Tritt Schell, the Pennsylvania E-rate coordinator, on behalf of the State E-rate Coordinators Alliance, the filing said.