ROBERT P CASEY, JR. 
PENNS \oANiA 
COMMJmES 
AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION. 
AND FORESTRY 
FINANCE 
lanitcd ~tatcs ~cnatc 
HEALTH, EDUCATION 
LABOR, AND PENSIONS 
SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON AGING 
JOINT ECONOMIC 
The Honorable Tom Wheeler 
Chairman 
Federal Communications Commission 
450 12th Street, SW 
Washington, DC 
Dear Mr. Chairman: 
WASHINGTON, DC 20510 
May I, 2014 
I understand that the Federal Communications Commission is making efforts to modernize theE-rate 
program. In your efforts to improve E-rate, I believe that the FCC should maintain those aspects of 
the program that are that are already effective, important to my constituents, and vital to the future of 
education. 
Web hosting provides an important service. School websites enabled by modem web hosting services 
are dynamic hubs from which schools perform critical educational funct ions. Today's school 
websites are powerfu l tools to support community engagement, emergency communication, parental 
involvement, and digital learning initiatives. 
School administrators tell me that if web hosting services were de-funded, so called "free services" 
would be unacceptable as substitutes due to the unique needs of and concerns re lated to child 
privacy, advertising, and security. Without E-rate support for web-hosting, districts might have to 
make cuts in other areas of their already-strained budgets to find the means to pay for their service. 
Web hosting invo lves only I% of E-rate funds and is among the most cost-effective services funded 
by E-rate. School leaders report that phasing out support fo r web hosting wou ld create a significant 
financia l hardship for their districts due to their very limited budgets. These applicants wou ld need to 
find additional resources to pay for their non-discounted share of broadband services, which would 
undermine the achievement of the FCCs broadband goals. 
As the Commission works to modernize E-rate, I urge you to maintain web hosting. I believe that this 
step will allow the FCC to maximize its positive impact on America's schools and the future of 
education. Thank you for your consideration of my views. 
Sincerely, 
Robert P. Casey, Jr. 
United States