Alaska school boards to FCC: don't make us choose internet over teachers

Alaska's school boards have a blunt warning for federal regulators: gut the program that pays for school internet, and Alaska districts will have to choose between the broadband bill and teacher paychecks.

The Association of Alaska School Boards, representing more than 330 elected board members statewide, told the FCC it opposes the commission's June 25 move to reconsider E-Rate — the federal program that subsidizes internet and communications for schools and libraries. The FCC has asked whether the program should be ended or cut back to rural areas only.

"Narrowing or sunsetting E-Rate at this critical juncture would force Alaska school districts to make the decision between paying the broadband bill, or paying teachers," executive director Tiffany Jackson wrote. The association also pushed back on the idea that near-universal connectivity — 99% of schools are now online — means the job is done; keeping schools connected, it argued, is an ongoing cost, not a one-time fix, especially as bandwidth and cybersecurity demands keep climbing.

It also warned against limiting the program to rural areas, which it said would pull funding from urban Alaska districts serving high-poverty students — widening the digital divide rather than closing it. And it questioned whether the FCC even has the legal authority to end a program Congress created, echoing the lone dissenting commissioner.