On June 21, 2022, Senators Markey, Van Hollen, and Representative Meng sent a letter to Congress urging the Congressional Leadership to secure additional funding to protect student Internet Access. Following the close of the third ECF filing window, the FCC announced that it received $2.8 billion in applications for ECF funds, which is nearly double the $1.5 billion that’s available, meaning the ECF program will be unable to meet the demand.
In their letter the Senators noted, “…ECF has made significant strides toward closing the homework gap. We are deeply concerned that those gains will dissipate when ECF funding runs out. With no additional federal funding, schools and libraries nationwide will face the difficult choice of finding unbudgeted funding to maintain home broadband connections for those students connected with ECF dollars or ceasing payment on those broadband bills and watching student broadband connections blink off — perhaps permanently.”
The Senators letter can be viewed here
