Alaska schools fight FCC proposals that could cut their internet lifeline

The federal program that keeps internet flowing to Alaska's most remote schools and libraries — more than $200 million a year of it — could be cut back or ended under proposals now before the Federal Communications Commission, and Alaska education groups are pushing back.

The E-Rate program covers a huge share of the cost of connecting schools in places where broadband is punishingly expensive. In the North Slope Borough School District, it pays 90 percent of the ASTAC and Starlink service the district provides for teacher housing; the district covers the other 10. The money carries state-required student testing, special education services, records systems and day-to-day operations. "For Alaska's most remote communities, E-Rate is not a luxury," wrote Dr. Lisa Parady, executive director of the Alaska Council of School Administrators, in comments filed Aug. 26 and joined by the Alaska Superintendents Association.

The FCC opened the question in June, asking — among many other things — whether E-Rate should be scaled back or phased out, whether its support should be limited to rural areas or places with only one provider, and whether rural applicants should keep the extra discount they now get. Nothing changes yet; the notice only poses the questions. But the answers could reshape what Alaska districts can afford.

Parady's argument is about cost, not availability. Many Alaska districts serve communities hundreds of miles apart and off the road system, where getting online costs far more than it does in the Lower 48. Newer low-orbit satellite service like Starlink adds options, she wrote, but doesn't solve the affordability or reliability problem. And she asked the commission to keep two separate questions from getting tangled: how kids use screens, and whether districts can pay for the networks their schools run on. The FCC has folded both into one proceeding it titled "Ensuring Children's Safe Use of Screens and E-Rate-Funded Services."

The Association of Alaska School Boards weighed in earlier, in July, warning specifically against limiting E-Rate to rural areas — which it said could strip funding from urban districts serving high-poverty students. The two Alaska filings are among more than 500 in the docket. Public comment runs through Oct. 13.