Alaska schools could face a choice between internet and teachers if a federal subsidy is cut

Alaska schools and libraries could see their internet bills jump sharply if the Federal Communications Commission narrows or eliminates the E-Rate subsidy — a program that sent $203.5 million to 433 Alaska requests last year, in a state where districts are already running budget deficits.

For three decades, E-Rate has discounted broadband for schools and libraries by 20% to 90%, with the deepest discounts going to the poorest and most remote places. That structure matters enormously in Alaska, where connectivity costs are among the highest in the country. Now FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has suggested the subsidy be reduced or eliminated, and the commission is reviewing whether the program has met its goals, arguing that broadband access has expanded substantially since E-Rate began and that the program may need to be refocused on current needs.

For Alaska districts, the stakes are concrete. The Association of Alaska School Boards, urging the FCC not to end the program, warns that cutting E-Rate would force districts to choose between paying for internet and paying teachers. The association also argues the commission lacks the legal authority to sunset it.

The program's reach in rural Alaska is long. Tiki Levinson, now director of the Delta Community Library, was hired as the Bristol Bay School District's librarian in Naknek in 1988 — the same era E-Rate came online — and has worked in Alaska libraries through the program's entire existence. In small communities, that subsidized connection is often what lets residents file taxes, book medical appointments and apply for the Permanent Fund dividend.

The review is part of a broader national fight over the future of the FCC's Universal Service Fund and whether long-running telecom subsidies should be tightened or cut — a fight that will determine whether Alaska keeps a subsidy built to offset the high cost of getting online in remote places.