FCC announces ‘top-to-bottom’ review of E-Rate
News & Industry
The FCC is considering ending E-Rate, the $3 billion annual program that funds internet access for your schools and libraries.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced a "top-to-bottom" review of the nearly 30-year-old program on June 3. The commission votes June 25 on whether to open it for public comment, and reform or full elimination are both on the table. If you built your network infrastructure around E-Rate funding, or if your district depends on Category 2 dollars for switches, access points, and cabling, pay attention right now.
Carr's stated rationale centers on student screen time and declining academic performance, pointing to COVID-era device expansion as a driver of distraction. He also cited state-level moves to restrict devices for younger students. The FCC wants to examine whether the program actually produces learning outcomes, whether funds are being spent appropriately, and whether existing child internet safety requirements under CIPA go far enough.
This follows the FCC's move last year to strip out the Biden-era expansion that covered school bus Wi-Fi and off-campus hotspots. The direction of travel is clear.
What's at stake is significant. E-Rate funds Category 1 broadband and wide-area connectivity for millions of students who would otherwise be on thin or nonexistent connections. Category 2 equipment funding has helped districts replace aging infrastructure without killing their capital budgets. Losing either piece would force painful choices, and districts that have deferred local spending by counting on E-Rate reimbursement would feel it fast.
The June 25 vote doesn't kill the program. It opens a comment period. But the window to make your district's voice heard is short, and the outcome will shape your budget assumptions for years.
Bottom line: Contact your E-Rate coordinator and your district's legal or policy team today so you're ready to submit public comment before the deadline.
Featured Articles
Long Term Support Channel Update for ChromeOS
Google/Microsoft · 1 min read
Vendor Perspective: Google has pushed a new LTS-144 update (version 144.0.7559.254) to most ChromeOS devices, and the patch list is worth a close look. We're talking 14 vulnerabilities total, including three rated Critical, all involving memory safety issues in areas like Extensions, Network, and Proxy handling. For K12 IT teams managing large Chromebook fleets, the LTS channel exists precisely for situations like this: you get security fixes without the feature churn that can disrupt classroom workflows mid-year. If your devices haven't auto-updated yet, it's worth confirming rollout status in your Admin Console soon.
New iOS device management settings now generally available in Google Endpoint Management
Google/Microsoft · 1 min read
Vendor Perspective: Google has pushed a significant batch of new iOS MDM controls into general availability inside Google Endpoint Management, covering everything from app installation restrictions and Safari history clearing to eSIM transfers and iCloud backup behavior. All settings are managed directly from the Workspace Admin console, no third-party MDM required. For K12 shops running mixed BYOD and district-owned iPhone or iPad fleets, this closes some real gaps, especially the managed pasteboard setting, which blocks copy-paste data leakage between managed and unmanaged apps. Rollout started June 4 and may take up to 15 days to appear in your console.
Bottom line: Check your iOS device policies now and map the new controls against your acceptable use requirements before staff and students hit summer programs.
Windows secure boot certificate deadline
Community · 1 min read
Windows Secure Boot certificates expire at the end of June, and the K12 sysadmin community is sorting out what that actually means for unpatched devices. The current read: devices won't brick, but whether they can receive the updated certificate after expiration is still an open question. If you're managing a fleet of Windows machines that missed the update window, that uncertainty matters. Audit your managed endpoints now and confirm the certificate update has been applied before June 30. Check out this weeks Tech Tip for more information on how to enable Windows Secure Boot certificate updates before the deadline.
Bottom line: Run a compliance report against your Windows fleet this week. Don't assume MDM pushed it successfully.
ADA Title II Web Accessibility: A Compliance Guide for Small K–12 Districts
News & Industry · 1 min read
Small districts serving fewer than 50,000 residents got a one-year extension on ADA Title II web accessibility compliance, pushing their deadline to April 26, 2028. Sounds like breathing room, until you remember that most of us are working with skeleton IT crews and websites full of years-old content that was never built with accessibility in mind. The new federal standard is WCAG 2.1 Level AA, which means captions on videos, alt text on images, screen-reader-friendly documents, and keyboard-navigable interfaces across your district's sites, platforms, forms, and apps. The clock is already running. EdTech Magazine's five-step compliance roadmap is worth a read before that 2028 date sneaks up on you.
Worth watching: As DOJ enforcement expectations expand, small districts without dedicated accessibility staff will face real legal exposure. How we build compliance capacity now, not just meet deadlines, will define our districts' digital equity commitments for years ahead.
Tech Tip of the Week
Enable Windows Secure Boot certificate updates before deadline to prevent boot failures
Microsoft's updated Secure Boot Authorized Signature Database (DB) is rolling out in phases, and machines that miss the certificate update window will fail to boot after the enforcement date hits.
Run this in an elevated PowerShell session to check current DB status across your fleet before you push anything:
`Confirm-SecureBootUEFI`
If it returns True, Secure Boot is active. Then verify the DB revision via `Get-SecureBootPolicy` or check the UEFI variables directly. For managed machines, deploy the update through Windows Update or WSUS by enabling the KB that pushes the new DB certificate, and confirm it's not blocked in your update policies. Test on a handful of machines first, especially any running third-party boot managers or Linux dual-boot setups, since those are most likely to break. SCCM and Intune both let you target a pilot group before broad deployment. Give yourself at least two weeks before the deadline to chase down stragglers.
Bottom line: Patch and verify now, or plan to reimage machines that won't boot after enforcement kicks in.
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