Federal E-Rate funds can be used to outfit school busses with Wi-Fi access points, the Federal Communications Commission has declared.
The declaratory ruling was supported by the Commission’s three Democrats, and opposed by its two Republicans. Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington argued both that the FCC has no data indicating that money already spent to put Wi-Fi access points on school busses has been effective at connecting students, and also that using E-Rate funds for this purpose may violate the program’s legal purpose. Simington called the change “unlawful” and stated that “E-Rate may only be used to subsidize internet connectivity for elementary schools, secondary schools, and libraries, and a school bus is neither a school nor a library.”
