On January 17, 2018, Funds For Learning (FFL) met with key FCC staff to share our analysis of FY 2017 E-rate funding data and responses to a nationwide survey of E-rate applicants that we recently released. Despite the many issues with the E-rate Productivity Center, the respondents to the survey are very grateful for the E-rate program and for the benefits that it provides. FFL will also be hosting an online learning event, February 14, at 3:00pm EST, to walk you through the data and help make sense of it all.
Funds For Learning shared that:
- Over 118,000 school and library sites benefit from the E‚Äêrate program;
- This impacts over 50 million K‚Äê12 students and millions of library patrons each year;
- 93% of respondents to our survey said that Wi‚ÄêFi is critical to fulfilling their organization’s mission;
- 84% of respondents to our survey indicated that the E‚Äêrate program is vital to their organization’s Internet connectivity goals;
- 78% of respondents believe that they have faster Internet because of the E‚Äêrate program;
- 75% of respondents expressed the opinion that they have more students and library patrons connected to the Internet as a direct result of E‚Äêrate discounts.
Further details about the FFL FCC meeting and the 2018 Survey Results can be found here.
