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WASHINGTON, DC 20510 
Chairman Tom Wheeler 
Federal Communications Commission 
445 12th Street, SW 
Washington, DC 20554 
Dear Chairman Wheeler: 
June 13, 2014 
We are writing in a bipartisan manner to urge swift action to modernize theE-Rate progran1 in 
order to deliver sufficient broadband to every school, classroom, and library. 
Taking advantage of cutting-edge technologies to improve the way educators teach and students 
learn has always been a widely-supported endeavor, as has theE-Rate program itself. However, 
it's now time that we give E-Rate an upgrade - and modernize this successful 18-year-old 
program for the broadband era. 
While broadband is poised to unlock digital learning's potential, too many of our children are left 
trying to access the tools of tomorrow using the Internet speeds of the past. The typical K -12 
school has about the same Internet access speed as the average home -only with 200 times more 
users. This means that 40 million students are being left behind without the speeds they need to 
take full advantage of digital learning opportunities. 
High-speed broadband can help us better educate, better innovate, and better compete in the 
world. It can help us prepare our kids for the jobs of the future and provide our current 
workforce with skills needed to succeed today. Broadband also fosters a domestic educational 
technology industry that creates new jobs, and helps the nation become more competitive on the 
world stage. In fact, a poll released by the bipartisan LEAD Commission found that over 80 
percent of Americans are very concerned about the lack of basic technology access in the 
classroom, and 6 in 1 0 believe allowing educators to incorporate technology to teach students the 
skills needed for 21st century jobs is a very important reason to expand high-speed broadband 
access. 
To bring our students up to speed, it's clear we need to keep pace with the growing potential of 
today's digital learning technologies. That is why we believe it's imperative that the 
Commission acts expeditiously to modernize, expand, and strengthen the successful E-Rate 
program by: 
1) Simplifying the application process, while increasing transparency and accountability and 
helping improve efficiency. 
2) Focusing theE-Rate program on broadband infrastructure to help ensure that we 
maximize the impact of theE-Rate on connectivity to support student learning for all. 
3) Investing in upgrades that enable every school and library to benefit from high speed 
broadband options that allow these institutions, rural, urban and suburban, to meet the 
connectivity goals that their kids need. 
By modernizing and strengthening theE-Rate program, we can help empower all students to 
continually benefit from the latest technological innovations not just for the next semester, or 
next school year, but for the next generation of learners. 
Extending high-speed access to our schools and libraries is more than just an education issue. It 
impacts our communities, our businesses, and the competitiveness of our nation. In an era when 
more and more jobs require you to be wired to get hired, let's ensure that every child has the 
skills needed for the knowledge economy. To bring about this brighter future, we ask you to 
take swift action to update and expand theE-Rate program to bring high-speed broadband and 
transformative learning opportunities to every school and library in America. 
Michael F. Bennet 
United States Senator 
Sincerely, 
Angus . King, Jr. 
United States Senator 
cc: 
Commissioner Clyburn 
Commissioner O'Rielly 
Commissioner Rosenworcel 
Commissioner Pai 
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United States Senator 
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