FCC may kill $2B program that connects schools and libraries to Internet
FCC may kill $2B program that connects schools and libraries to Internet
美国联邦通信委员会（FCC）或将取消一项价值20亿美元的学校与图书馆互联网连接计划
The Federal Communications Commission was roundly criticized today for proposing to scale back or eliminate E-Rate, a $2 billion-a-year Universal Service program that provides discounts for telecom services and equipment in schools and libraries. 美国联邦通信委员会（FCC）今日因提议缩减或取消“E-Rate”计划而遭到严厉批评。该计划是一项每年耗资20亿美元的普遍服务项目，旨在为学校和图书馆的电信服务及设备提供折扣。
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said E-Rate should be changed because students are getting too much screen time. He led a 2-1 vote to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that proposes changes and asks the public to comment on them. FCC主席布伦丹·卡尔（Brendan Carr）表示，由于学生们接触屏幕的时间过长，E-Rate计划应当进行调整。他主导了一场2比1的投票，发布了一份拟议规则制定公告（NPRM），其中提出了相关变更建议，并征求公众意见。
“Over the last decade, school districts across the country experimented with a massive increase in screen time for students,” Carr said at today’s meeting. Carr blamed schools for replacing books and pencils with digital tools and said data shows “that more than half of students now use a computer for up to four hours a day, and a quarter of them spend more than four hours on screens.” “在过去十年里，全国各地的学区都在尝试大幅增加学生的屏幕使用时间，”卡尔在今天的会议上说道。卡尔指责学校用数字工具取代了书籍和铅笔，并称数据显示“现在超过一半的学生每天使用电脑的时间长达四小时，其中四分之一的学生每天面对屏幕的时间超过四小时。”
He said that E-Rate began in 1997 “with a clear focus—supporting basic Internet access to schools and libraries for educational purposes,” but has “expanded exponentially.” “We seek comment on whether the program should be reoriented in light of all of the above developments, as well as the increase in connectivity to schools and libraries across the country since 1997,” Carr said. 他表示，E-Rate计划始于1997年，“初衷明确——支持学校和图书馆出于教育目的获得基本的互联网接入”，但该计划此后“呈指数级扩张”。卡尔说：“鉴于上述所有发展，以及自1997年以来全国学校和图书馆连接性的提升，我们寻求公众意见，探讨该计划是否应进行重新定位。”
FCC seeks comment on ending E-Rate
FCC就终止E-Rate计划征求意见
Despite Carr’s use of the word “reoriented,” the options on the table include shutting down E-Rate. This is made clear in a public draft of the NPRM, which asks for comment on whether E-Rate should be limited or sunset: Should the E-Rate program be limited or sunset to reflect today’s extensive connectivity rates? At what point should policymakers conclude that the program’s core objective has been achieved? We seek comment on whether Congress intended E-Rate to operate indefinitely, regardless of the extent to which schools and libraries have achieved universal connectivity. 尽管卡尔使用了“重新定位”一词，但摆在桌面上的选项包括关闭E-Rate计划。这一点在NPRM的公开草案中表述得很清楚，草案征求意见的内容包括是否应限制或终止E-Rate：是否应限制或终止E-Rate计划以反映当今广泛的连接率？决策者应在何时认定该计划的核心目标已经实现？我们寻求公众意见，探讨国会是否意图让E-Rate无限期运行，而不考虑学校和图书馆实现普遍连接的程度。
Commissioner Anna Gomez, the FCC’s only Democrat, asked Carr’s office to remove the language seeking comment on whether to sunset the E-Rate program. The chair’s office declined that request, a spokesperson for Gomez told Ars today. 作为FCC唯一的民主党委员，安娜·戈麦斯（Anna Gomez）曾要求卡尔的办公室删除有关是否终止E-Rate计划的征求意见内容。戈麦斯的一位发言人今日向Ars Technica透露，主席办公室拒绝了这一请求。
Gomez said at today’s meeting that the NPRM “has been erroneously portrayed as an inquiry into screen time” in order to float “speculative and unwarranted proposals, including whether the Commission should terminate the E-Rate program or dramatically limit its scope to only rural areas or areas served by a single provider. These proposals reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the challenges schools and libraries face today and reveal a striking cognitive dissonance at the core of this item.” 戈麦斯在今天的会议上表示，这份NPRM“被错误地描述为对屏幕时间的调查”，其目的是为了提出“投机性和无根据的建议，包括委员会是否应终止E-Rate计划，或将其范围大幅限制在仅限农村地区或由单一供应商服务的地区。这些建议反映了对学校和图书馆当今所面临挑战的根本性误解，并揭示了该项目核心存在惊人的认知失调。”
Issuing an NPRM is the first major step toward changing or ending the program. The FCC could make a final decision in a few months, and opponents may challenge that decision in court. Legal challenges are likely to argue that the FCC exceeded the authority granted to the agency by Congress, particularly if Carr tries to end or dramatically reduce the program. 发布NPRM是改变或终止该计划的第一大步。FCC可能会在几个月内做出最终决定，而反对者可能会在法庭上挑战这一决定。法律挑战很可能会辩称FCC超越了国会授予该机构的权力，特别是如果卡尔试图终止或大幅削减该计划的话。
The FCC’s draft NPRM argues that although Congress created the program, the purpose for which it was created may no longer exist. Congress authorized E-Rate in the 1996 Telecommunications Act, and the FCC implemented the program the next year. E-Rate provides discounts of 20 percent to 90 percent for eligible services and equipment. FCC的NPRM草案认为，尽管国会创建了该计划，但其创建目的可能已不复存在。国会在1996年的《电信法》中授权了E-Rate，FCC于次年实施了该计划。E-Rate为符合条件的服务和设备提供20%至90%的折扣。
“In establishing the program in 1996, Congress was addressing a specific problem: limited access to advanced telecommunications and Internet services in schools and libraries,” the FCC proposal said. “Given the substantial expansion of broadband access in schools and libraries over the last three decades, we seek comment on whether and to what extent the E-Rate program has fulfilled that mission and whether continued funding is consistent with Congress’s original objective.” “在1996年建立该计划时，国会旨在解决一个具体问题：学校和图书馆在获取先进电信和互联网服务方面受限，”FCC的提案称。“鉴于过去三十年来学校和图书馆宽带接入的显著扩张，我们寻求公众意见，探讨E-Rate计划在多大程度上完成了这一使命，以及继续提供资金是否符合国会的最初目标。”
Gomez: FCC acting like “the nation’s parent”
戈麦斯：FCC表现得像“国家的家长”
Gomez said E-Rate helps ensure that children in low-income neighborhoods and rural communities get “the same shot at a digital education as anyone else.” She said concerns about screen time affecting children’s development and mental health are “real and worth taking seriously,” but that “those conversations belong in homes, classrooms, pediatricians’ offices, and with state, local, and federal legislators. Policing children’s behavior in schools goes far beyond our stated mandate. The FCC is not the nation’s parent. It is not the nation’s teacher. And it is not the nation’s school board.” 戈麦斯表示，E-Rate有助于确保低收入社区和农村社区的孩子们获得“与其他人一样的数字教育机会”。她说，关于屏幕时间影响儿童发育和心理健康的担忧是“真实且值得认真对待的”，但“这些讨论应该发生在家庭、教室、儿科医生办公室以及州、地方和联邦立法者之间。监管学校中儿童的行为远远超出了我们既定的职责范围。FCC不是国家的家长，不是国家的教师，也不是国家的学校董事会。”
She added that “Congress did not ask the FCC to revisit or narrow the program’s scope” or “intend for federal connectivity support to hinge on anyone’s preferred educational philosophies or screen-time preferences.” 她补充说，“国会并未要求FCC重新审视或缩小该计划的范围”，也“无意让联邦连接支持取决于任何人的教育理念或屏幕时间偏好。”
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said the FCC proposal “goes far beyond reviewing the impact of screen time on students and undermines educational equality, harms our economic competitiveness, and threatens to reverse three decades of settled law. The FCC should be focused on strengthening E-Rate and closing the digital divide, not finding new excuses to disconnect the children who need it the most.” 参议员埃德·马基（Ed Markey，民主党，马萨诸塞州）表示，FCC的提案“远远超出了审查屏幕时间对学生影响的范畴，破坏了教育平等，损害了我们的经济竞争力，并威胁要推翻三十年来已确立的法律。FCC应该专注于加强E-Rate并弥合数字鸿沟，而不是寻找新的借口去切断那些最需要帮助的儿童的连接。”
E-Rate typically distributes over $2 billion a year. It has a funding cap of $5.2 billion, but actual payouts are based on demand and the application approval rate. E-Rate and other Universal Service Fund (USF) programs are paid for by fees imposed on phone companies, which usually pass the cost on to consumers on their monthly bills. E-Rate通常每年拨付超过20亿美元。其资金上限为52亿美元，但实际支出取决于需求和申请批准率。E-Rate及其他普遍服务基金（USF）项目的资金来源于向电话公司征收的费用，这些公司通常会将成本转嫁到消费者的月度账单中。
FCC already axed E-Rate hotspot lending
FCC此前已取消E-Rate热点借用服务
The Carr FCC already scaled E-Rate back last year by ending funding for schools and libraries to lend out Wi-Fi hotspots. The FCC also stopped funding for Wi-Fi service on school buses. The changes, backed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), were described as “cruel” by advocates. Advocacy groups had similar criticism for today’s vote. “Instead of asking whether E-Rate should be terminated, the FCC should be asking how to make it stronger,” said J 卡尔领导下的FCC去年已经通过停止资助学校和图书馆借出Wi-Fi热点，缩减了E-Rate的规模。FCC还停止了对校车Wi-Fi服务的资助。这些在参议员泰德·克鲁兹（Ted Cruz，共和党，德克萨斯州）支持下的变更，被倡导者形容为“残忍”。倡导团体对今天的投票也提出了类似的批评。“FCC不应该问E-Rate是否应该终止，而应该问如何让它变得更强大，”J说道。