Why the $4.5 Billion School E-Rate Program Is Headed to the Supreme Court Education Week
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The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to take up a potentially important case involving the $4.5 billion federal E-rate program that provides discounted internet and other telecommunications services to schools. The court agreed to hear the appeal of a Wisconsin telecom provider facing a civil trial under a federal fraud statute for allegedly overcharging schools under the program.
Meanwhile, the court declined to hear the appeal of a former student with an intellectual disability who was Tased by a school resource officer after a violent outburst at his high school.
The telecom case, Wisconsin Bell Inc. v. United States ex rel. Heath, involves the Schools and Libraries Universal Service Support Program, or E-rate, which is funded by telecom providers and administered by a private company, the Universal Services Administrative Co., under the auspices of the Federal Communications Commission. In 2023, some 1,600 telecom providers performed $2.46 billion worth of reimbursable work for the 132,000 schools and libraries enrolled in the program, court papers say.
