Policy & Funding

Ed Tech Groups Ask FCC to Extend Emergency Connectivity Fund Deadlines

• By David Nagel
• 04/05/23

Two prominent education technology-focused associations have teamed up to ask the Federal Communications Commission to extend service delivery dates for the Emergency Connectivity Fund.

The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) and the Schools, Health & Libraries Broadband Coalition (SHLB) noted that supply chain issues and other factors are creating difficulties for schools trying to use the funds they were allocated through the ECF program.

The groups have asked the FCC to push the deadline to June 30, 2024 for recipients of funding in rounds 1, 2, and 3.

"We applaud the FCC’s hard work to implement the ECF program in an extremely short time frame to meet the needs of students and library patrons during the pandemic," said John Windhausen Jr., executive director of the SHLB Coalition, in a prepared statement. "Although the Commission has made significant progress in funding ECF requests, some applicants are either still awaiting approval or received an approved funding commitment with only a limited amount of time to utilize their funding prior to the current service delivery deadlines. Several factors, such as equipment and service substitutions and supply chain and COVID-related delays have made it difficult or impossible for applicants to use all of their approved funding by the current service delivery dates. Extending the service delivery deadlines will respond to the realities of the marketplace and fulfill Congress’ goal to connect vulnerable populations with affordable internet access."

The complete letter can be accessed on SHLB's site.