The Federal Communications Commission wants to get high-speed wireless Internet in every American classroom, and it’s raising taxes to do it.
FCC chairman Tom Wheeler will more than double spending on Internet access for schools, increasing the budget by 62 percent to $3.9 billion, reports the Wall Street Journal. The policy change is part of an ongoing revision to the FCC’s E-Rate program, which was designed to improve Internet quality in schools and libraries. E-Rate is a subset of the Universal Services Fund, an 8.7 billion dollar organization that works to bring broadband services to impoverished communities.
Funding from the budget increase will be used to outfit campuses with wi-fi connectivity powered by a high-speed fiber optic network.
The initiative would especially benefit rural schools who currently do not have the infrastructure to provide high-speed Internet to their communities. The FCC says seven of 10 low-income and rural school districts cannot meet Internet connectivity benchmarks and 40 million students have Internet access that is too slow to access educational software.
The push to bring high-speed Internet to American students is going to be expensive, so the FCC has enlisted the help of the American taxpayer. The FCC plans to increase the taxes on phone bills by 17.2 percent per phone line to accommodate the new budget. The tax increase applies to both mobile and land line phones. According to the FCC, “While the impact on consumers will be small, the impact on children, teachers, local communities and American competitiveness will be great.”
At least one FCC commissioner isn’t on board with the decision to fund educational Internet expansion at the expense of the taxpayer. Republican commissioner Ajit Pai released a statement Monday condemning the proposal. “Instead of imposing a greater burden on families struggling to make ends meet in this lackluster economy, the Commission should pursue fiscally responsible reforms,” said Pai. Pai also criticized the FCC for delaying the tax increase until after the midterm elections.
A vote from the FCC on the proposal is expected at the Dec. 11 commission meeting. Only three of the five commissioners are needed for approval.
