What the FCC has proposed
The FCC calls it a review. It reads as a threat to unwind E-Rate.
In June 2026 the FCC adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). As summarized by AESA and its partners AASA, ASBO, and NREA,6 the proposal reaches far beyond routine review — and each item lands directly on the public schools of Allegheny County.
Phasing out E-Rate altogether.
−$3.9M / year to the countyExcluding non-rural districts from support.
Allegheny is a metro county — all 43 districts likely excludedThis isn't about screen time. It's about cutting our youngest learners off from the digital books, learning tools, and wider world their classrooms open up.
Our youngest learners lose their first connection to learningReducing or withholding funding over Form 479 / CIPA compliance — turning a routine safety certification into grounds to cut a school's connectivity.
Every district already certifies CIPA complianceMaking E-Rate contingent on new federal rules — screen-time limits, social-media bans, mandated curricula — decisions that have always belonged to local schools and states, not the FCC.
Classroom decisions handed to WashingtonProtecting student and staff data takes modern, secure networks — and E-Rate is how districts afford them. Cutting the funding doesn't erase the obligation; it just pushes the cost onto local property-tax budgets.
Data-security costs fall back on local budgetsWhere the money goes
Two categories. One connected classroom.
E-Rate funds arrive in two forms. Category 1 pays for the broadband circuits that reach the building. Category 2 pays for the Wi-Fi and switching that carry it to every desk. Allegheny County's schools depend on both.1
Annual E-Rate commitments across Allegheny County
FY2026 is still open — its lighter bar shows partial-year commitments to date. All Allegheny County public districts, CTCs, and the Allegheny Connect consortium, funding years 2016–2026. The FY2021 Category 2 spike reflects post-pandemic Wi-Fi rebuilds. Committed federal share, de-duplicated to the funding-request level. Source: USAC Open Data.
Support that follows need — and it isn't rural
The less a district can afford, the more E-Rate provides.
E-Rate scales its support to a district's share of economically disadvantaged students, so the county's least-resourced districts draw the deepest support: 17 districts qualify at the maximum 90% rate — Pittsburgh Public Schools among them — and more than a third at 80% or above.2 Yet these are not rural communities. They are the city of Pittsburgh and the boroughs and river towns around it — 85% of funded services are classified Urban by USAC, just 6% rural — so a rural-only rule would disqualify nearly the entire $46.2M.3
See every Allegheny County district by discount rate
Coordinated by the AIU
A shared regional network: Allegheny Connect.
The AIU coordinates Allegheny Connect — a shared regional wide-area network that delivers high-quality, high-capacity connectivity to its 46 member districts and career-technical centers. Buying as one region secures enterprise-grade fiber that no single district could procure affordably alone, and E-Rate covers the discounted majority of the cost. $6.48M in Category 1 funding flows through the consortium's own Billed Entity Number, reaching roughly 285 schools across the county.4
This is exactly the regional coordination the NPRM would undercut — the mechanism that lets 46 districts and centers, large and small, share one resilient backbone. (The AIU separately files $1.6M for its own facilities.)
The receipts
What E-Rate delivered, district by district.
Lifetime E-Rate commitments, funding years 2016–2026, for the highest-funded districts in Allegheny County.1 The 90% badge marks maximum-discount, highest-need districts.
| District / Center | Category 1 | Category 2 | Total funded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh Public Schools 90% | $6.6M | $3.5M | $10.1M |
| Woodland Hills 90% | $1.2M | $819K | $2.1M |
| Penn Hills 90% | $501K | $822K | $1.3M |
| North Allegheny | $530K | $786K | $1.3M |
| West Mifflin Area 90% | $570K | $744K | $1.3M |
| Gateway 90% | $597K | $716K | $1.3M |
| McKeesport Area 90% | $666K | $572K | $1.2M |
| West Allegheny | $236K | $931K | $1.2M |
| Steel Valley 90% | $892K | $197K | $1.1M |
| Highlands 90% | $435K | $614K | $1.0M |
| Baldwin-Whitehall | $241K | $790K | $1.0M |
| Elizabeth Forward | $661K | $341K | $1.0M |
| Moon Area | $394K | $573K | $968K |
| Plum Borough | $289K | $514K | $803K |
| Fox Chapel Area | $265K | $524K | $789K |
Top 15 of 45 funded organizations shown. Figures are USAC-committed federal amounts, de-duplicated to the funding-request level (one commitment per request, not per school served). Consortium (RWAN) commitments are reported separately above.
See it on the map
See Allegheny County on the map.
Every district’s E-Rate funding, drawn straight from USAC’s public data. Hover or tap any district for its Category 1 and 2 totals, discount rate, and USAC urban/rural label.
Open the interactive map →Your voice is needed — now
Take action to protect E-Rate.
The FCC's comment period is open now, giving us a narrow window to show Congress and the FCC what these changes would cost our schools. Here's how to help — it takes two minutes.
Sign on with the Digital Trust Hub
Add your district or organization to our coalition standing up for E-Rate. One signature adds your name to both the comment we file with the FCC on Docket 26-133 and our coalition's letters to lawmakers — we handle the federal filing for you.
Sign your district on →Tell Congress to protect E-Rate
Reach out directly to your lawmakers. Our partners at the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) have a one-click tool that finds your U.S. Senators and Representative and sends them your message.
Contact Congress now →Your Pennsylvania delegation
The tool routes to your exact offices automatically. For Allegheny County that means your two U.S. Senators — Sen. John Fetterman and Sen. Dave McCormick — and your U.S. Representatives — Rep. Summer Lee (PA‑12) and Rep. Chris Deluzio (PA‑17) — depending on where you live.
Short on words? Use this template ↓
Make it local: find your district on the county map and drop your own numbers into the letter — a message grounded in your district’s figures lands hardest.
Sources
The data behind this page.
Every figure on this page comes from USAC's public federal E-Rate Open Data, funding years 2016–2026. Each source is linked below. How we pulled and de-duplicated this data →
- E-Rate funding committed to the region. The federal share of funded requests for Allegheny County's districts, career-technical centers, and the AIU-coordinated RWAN consortium — $46.2M, FY2016–2026.
- Discount rates & student need. Category 1/2 discount rates and the school-level free/reduced-lunch (NSLP) percentages that set them.
- Urban / rural classification. USAC's urban/rural status for each funded service — 85% Urban, 6% Rural across the region.
- Allegheny Connect consortium. Category 1 connectivity committed under the consortium's Billed Entity Number (17000532) — the AIU-coordinated shared regional wide-area network ($6.48M). The AIU also files $1.6M under 149436 for its own sites.
- Target universe & Billed Entity Numbers. The 42 AIU (IU 3) member districts, 4 career-technical centers, the Allegheny IU RWAN consortium, and Pittsburgh Public Schools (IU 2) — each entity's Billed Entity Number confirmed against USAC's public entity records.USAC entity lookup 7i5i-83qf ↗
- Proposed FCC rule changes. Summarized from the member advocacy update by the Association of Educational Service Agencies (AESA) — with the School Superintendents Association (AASA), the Association of School Business Officials (ASBO), and the National Rural Education Association (NREA) — on the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) reviewing the E-Rate program.
- Consortium membership. The RWAN consortium's 46 member districts and career-technical centers, from USAC's Form 470 consortium-entity records.
