The analysis in this report is based
on application data from the FCC’s
Schools and Libraries Program
(“E-rate”). It includes data from 6,781
public school districts, representing
over 25 million students in approximately 49,000 schools across all 50
states.
In 2014, the FCC made all E-rate
application data open for the first time.
EducationSuperHighway’s team of
25 analysts, data quality specialists,
and developers spent seven months
verifying and analyzing this open data.
Over this period, the team reached out
to more than 5,500 E-rate applicants to
clarify the broadband services contained in their applications, working
closely with school districts, state part-
Median Monthly
Cost per MBPS
ners, and E-rate consultants to verify
data accuracy and completeness.
Twenty million more
students were connected
in the last two years.
In 2013, EducationSuperHighway
reported that 40 million students were
without the broadband they needed
for digital learning. At that time, only
30% of school districts were meeting
the Federal Communications Commission’s minimum Internet access goal
of 100 kbps (kilobytes per second) per
student. In the last two years, signifi-
Bandwidth MBPS
$30
1,200
$25
1,000
$22
1,000
See Page 16
Monthly Recurring
Cost per Circuit
$3,860
$4,000
$3,500
$3,310
$3,000
800
$15
600
$11
$400
$10
$2,500
$2,000
$1,500
200
$1,000
$200
$0
$500
2015
0
The cost of Internet
access has declined
50%
2013
2015
5X
the bandwidth
$0
District
purchasing
power has
grown
5x in 2 years.
2013
2015
17%
Increase in cost
Source: 2015 State of the States
$20
2013
cant progress has been made, connecting an additional 20 million students.
Specifically, 77% of school districts,
representing 59% of schools, and
53% of students are now meeting the
100 kbps per student Internet access
goal. Similarly, while less than 300,000
teachers had the tools they needed in
2013, approximately 1.7 million teachers now have the broadband they need
to deliver a 21st century education.
These gains were driven in part
by an increase in the amount school
districts and states are investing in Internet access and more significantly by
a decrease in the cost of broadband.
Thanks to the FCC’s modernization of
essentials | www.edmarket.org 15