For the first time, the E-rate Trends Report has a full digital edition. The 2026 report is online now at fundsforlearning.com/trendsreport, with the charts, the data tables, and every applicant comment on the page, where you can search, filter, and link to them.
The report is built on Funds For Learning’s sixteenth annual survey of E-rate applicants, which drew 2,460 responses, the most since comparable counts begin in 2015, with 2,435 used in the report. It also draws on FY2026 funding requests as filed. We filed it with the FCC on September 25.
What the digital edition lets you do
In the PDF, applicants’ own comments run more than 45 pages. Online, you can work with them directly.
- Search all 695 comments by keyword, such as firewall, bids, or EPC.
- Filter the comments by topic, by state, and by applicant type, so a Texas library can see what other libraries and other Texans said.
- Link straight to any chapter, or to any section of the policy chapter, which sets the FCC’s questions beside what respondents told us.
- Copy a ready-made citation for the section you’re reading.
The PDF is still the filed record, and it’s still available from the same page. If you cite the report in an FCC filing, cite the PDF by page.
What respondents told us
Respondents rate the program higher than they did in 2016 on all five statements the survey has carried since then. 95.9 percent agree that E-rate funding is vital to their organization’s internet connectivity goals. Agreement that the organization can depend on E-rate funding every year reached 90.8 percent, the highest in that question’s eleven-year series.
The application process still trails. Respondents say the program is meeting two of the FCC’s three goals, affordable access at 94.9 percent and cost-effective spending at 89.2 percent. Only 60.5 percent agree that the application process and other E-rate processes are fast, simple, and efficient, although that’s up from 34.7 percent in 2016.
Respondents also expect to need more. Among those with a Wi-Fi network, 71.2 percent expect to need an upgrade within three years, and 97.5 percent say network security and network management goods and services should qualify for E-rate support.
Explore it before replies are due
Reply comments are due October 30 in WC Docket 26-173 and November 12 in WC Docket 26-133. If you plan to file, the digital edition is the fastest way to find what applicants in your state or your kind of organization said. We’ll walk through the findings in a webinar on November 5 at 11 AM EST.