Schools, Libraries Want Crack at Broadband Funds

Inouye has long supported public funding for schools and libraries, and was instrumental in creating the E-rate program under the Universal Service Fund. The coalition praised the law’s goal of providing broadband support to schools, libraries, health providers and community colleges. But the NTIA’s first round of grant funding rules “fall far short of the goal set forth in the legislation,” the coalition said in testimony prepared for the hearing.

“By focusing almost exclusively on serving residential customers, the application process does not give priority to the construction of high-capacity broadband” to libraries, schools and other learning institutions “as is called for by the statutory language,” the statement said. “In fact, it is almost impossible for an anchor institution to file an application that satisfies all of the requirements as now set forth” in the first round of grant application guidelines. “The grant process has discouraged many schools, libraries and health care entities from applying … and raised concern that many worthwhile broadband funding projects will not be funded,” the statement said.

The grant rules “deprioritized” the role of community- based public institutions, said John Windhausen, the president of Telephony Consulting, which coordinates the coalition’s work. Some didn’t apply for grants because the rules shut them out, even though the grants would be helpful in getting rural communities broadband, Windhausen said. Some bodies that applied then asked for a waiver of consideration of their application, in anticipation of possible rule changes allowing the projects to qualify in the second round of applications, he said.

Meanwhile, NTIA and RUS said Monday they're still counting the applications filed last week and expect to release information this week, spokesmen for the agencies said. The coalition said in its testimony that the rules’ focus on last mile projects “may put the cart before the horse.” If there is no high capacity pipe to carry traffic from residential consumers to the Internet backbone, the coalition said, “it will do little good to build additional ‘Last Mile’ broadband networks.” The lack of backhaul facilities creates a barrier to the widespread availability of greater broadband to the home, the coalition said.

“Our analysis suggests that there is close to enough funding to build such a broadband ‘pipe’ to every single hospital, library and school in the U.S.,” the coalition said. This means every community could obtain benefits from the program, providing a significant boost to economic development, the group said.

The coalition offered federal officials suggestions for rules for the second round of grant applications. One proposal calls for a separate application category for networks dedicated to serving anchor institutions such as schools, libraries and hospitals. Also helpful would be creation of a separate definition of high-capacity broadband for schools and libraries “with the goal of delivering 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps to these organizations,” SHLB said. All anchor institutions should be eligible to apply, not just those located in unserved or underserved areas, it said. The NTIA also should allocate “more than the minimum amount of funding for projects to expand public computer center capacity,” and simplify the application process, the coalition said.