Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, SW
Washington, D.C. 20554
Dear Chairman Wheeler,

As CEOs and innovators working to unlock the power of technology to personalize learning, empower teachers, connect parents, and ensure equal educational opportunity for all, we are writing to urge swift action to modernize the E-rate program and connect America’s students to high-speed broadband and ubiquitous Wi-Fi.

We are writing to urge swift action to modernize the E-rate program and connect America’s students to high-speed broadband and ubiquitous Wi-Fi.

In schools with robust broadband infrastructure, technology is already transforming how teachers teach and students learn. Gigabit speeds are enabling one-to-one learning technologies that let students learn at their own pace; two-way video that beams in experts and experiences from around the globe; blended learning models that let teachers spend more time in small group instruction; immersive learning games as engaging as the best video games; online assessments that provide real-time feedback to address issues before students fall behind; and collaboration tools that give parents daily access to their children’s homework and grades. In short, broadband is the foundation for the 21st century classroom.

Broadband is the foundation for the 21st century classroom.

Unfortunately, nearly 40 million of America’s K-12 students are being left behind without the Internet access and Wi-Fi they need to take advantage of the power of digital learning. If we want our students and teachers to have the opportunity to utilize the next-generation educational applications and content our companies are creating, America’s schools need 100 Mbps or more of Internet access today and 1 Gbps by 2017.

High-speed broadband can help us out-educate, out-innovate, and out-compete the world.

High-speed broadband can help us out-educate, out-innovate, and out-compete the world. It can help us better prepare our kids for the jobs of the future, foster a domestic educational technology industry that creates new jobs, and help the nation become more competitive on the world stage. Already, an estimated $4 billion a year is being invested in digital learning tools in America’s K-12 schools, a market that could grow to $10 billion by 2017 — helping to create a vital new industry focused on fueling our future while creating new jobs at home.

Yet, instead of leading the world in digital learning, we are putting our students, teachers, and educational technology innovators at a significant disadvantage. Countries around the world already recognize that high-speed broadband isn’t just an educational necessity; it’s a competitive imperative. In South Korea, all schools are already connected to the Internet with high-speed connections, all teachers are trained in digital learning, and printed textbooks will be phased out by 2016. Australia, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, and Singapore are close behind with programs to connect their children to world-class educational technologies. To win the future, we need not only to connect our kids with high-speed learning opportunities, we need to make sure that the technologies that will fuel this future are being designed, developed, and deployed right here in America.

That is why it is imperative that the Commission act quickly to modernize, expand, and strengthen the successful E-rate program by: 1) focusing the E-rate program on broadband connectivity and infrastructure to ensure that we maximize the impact of E-rate on learning; 2) investing in upgrades, starting with the FCC’s $2 billion E-rate down payment to connect every school to fiber and every classroom to Wi-Fi; 3) improving the affordability of broadband for America’s schools by maximizing competition and the broadband options available; and 4) increasing transparency and accountability to reduce costs and improve efficiency by collecting and releasing more data about existing network infrastructure, how funds are spent and the prices paid by schools for their E-rate services.

It is imperative that the Commission act quickly.

Strategic innovation in the E-rate program will set the stage for America’s innovators to unlock the power of technology to ensure equal educational opportunity for all of America’s K-12 students. Expanding access to high-speed broadband is perhaps our generation’s single greatest opportunity to provide every student with access to the most effective and engaging educational content, applications, and tools ever developed. Nowhere is the opportunity so vast, the need so urgent, and the policy so vital for advancing a brighter more connected educational future.

Sincerely,

• Karen Francis
  Chief Executive Officer
  Academix Direct
• Jim Bowler
  Chief Executive Officer
  Adaptive Curriculum
• Curt Allen
  President and Chief Executive Officer
  Agilix
• Cabot Brown
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Akadus
• Josh Reibel
  Chief Executive Officer
  Amplify Learning
• Karl Okamoto
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  ApprenNet
• Alex Grodd
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Betterlesson
• Jason Lange
  Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  BloomBoard
• Elisabeth Stock
  Chief Executive Officer
  CFY / PowerMyLearning
• CJ Kettler
  Chief Executive Officer
  ChannelOne
• Thor Prichard
  President and Chief Executive Officer
  Clarity Innovations
• Sam Chaudhary
  Co-Founder
  Class Dojo
• Tyler Bosmeny
  Chief Executive Officer
  Clever
• Hadi Partovi
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Code.org
• Jeremy Keeshin
  Co-Founder
  CodeHS
• Benjamin Lowenstein
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Colingo
• Sanjeev Agrawal
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Collegefeed
• Mika Salmi
  Chief Executive Officer
  CreativeLIVE
• Jason Singer
  Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Curriculet
• Robert Waldron
  Chief Executive Officer
  Curriculum Associates
• Ramona Pierson
  Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Declara
• David Blake
  Chief Executive Officer
  Degreed
• Eli Luberoff
  Chief Executive Officer
  Desmos
• Matt Tullman
  Co-Founder and President
  digedu
• Jessie Woolley-Wilson
  Chair, President, and Chief Executive Officer
  DreamBox Learning
• Frederick Singer
  Chief Executive Officer
  Echo360
• Sari Factor
  Chief Executive Officer
  Edgenuity
• Crystal Hutter
  Chief Executive Officer
  Edmodo
• Adam Geller
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Edthena
• Anthony Kim
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Education Elements
• Wade Roberts
  Founder
  Educreations
• David Mulligan
  Chief Executive Officer
  Eduvantis
• Judith Murray
  Chief Executive Officer
  EdVantage America
• Lisa Schmucki
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  edWeb.net
• David Vinca
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  eSpark Learning
• Benson Loo
  Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  EyePower
• Chris Etesse
  Chief Executive Officer
  Flat World Education
• Reshma Saujani
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Girls Who Code
• Idit Harel Caperton
  Founder, President, and Chair
  Globaloria
• Justin Su
  Co-Founder
  Goalbook
• Bill Jackson
  Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer
  GreatSchools
• Evan Korth
  Co-Founder
  hackNY
• Rick Noble
  Chief Executive Officer
  Triumph Learning
• Jan Zawadzki
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Hapara
• Scott McQuigg
  Chief Executive Officer
  HealthTeacher / GoNoodle
• Alan Louie
  Founder
  Imagine K12
• Tim Brady
  Founder and Partner
  Imagine K12
• Joe Swenson
  President and Chief Executive Officer
  Imagine Learning
• Pete Wheelan
  Chief Executive Officer
  InsideTrack
• Greg Amrofell
  Co-Founder and Partner
  Intentional Futures
• Steve Goldenberg
  Chief Executive Officer
  Interfolio
• Jesse Olsen
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  JumpRope
• Steve Schoettler
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Junyo
• Jennifer Medbery
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Kickboard
• Joseph Connor
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Learning Ovations
• Candis Best
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Learningateway
• Eric Westendorf
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  LearnZillion
• Gideon Stein
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  LightSail
• Elijah Mayfield
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  LightSide Labs
• Cory Reid
  Chief Executive Officer and Director
  MasteryConnect
• John Page
  Author
  Math Open Reference
• Karim Ani
  Founder
  Mathalicious
• Vinay Bhargava
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Mytonomy
• Sabari Raja
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Nepris
• Jonathan Hefter
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Neverware
• Jennifer Carolan
  Managing Director
  New Schools Venture Fund
• Matthew Gross
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Newsela
• John Katzman
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Noodle
• Jeff Scheur
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  NoRedInk
• Aaron Feuer
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Panorama
• Mathew Pittinsky
  Chief Executive Officer
  Parchment
• Aaron Skonnard
  Co-Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer
  PluralSight
• Clay Whitehead
  Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer
  PresenceLearning
• Harlyn Pacheco
  Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Qlovi
• Alex Khachatryan
  Co-Founder, President, & Chief Executive Officer
  Reasoning Mind
• Brett Kopf
  Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Remind101
• Tam O’Shaughnessy
  Founder, Chair, and Chief Executive Officer
  Sally Ride Science
• Jinal Jhaveri
  Co-Founder
  SchoolMint
• Lynzi Ziegenhagen
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  SchoolZilla
• Brian Greenberg
  Chief Executive Officer
  Silicon Schools Fund
• Dror Ben-Naim
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Smart Sparrow
• Tess Brustein
  Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Smarter Cookie
• Benjamin Berte
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Socrative
• Snehal Patel
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Sokikom
• Neal Shenoy
  Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Speakaboos
• Tom Graunke
  President, Chairman, & Chief Executive Officer
  StormWind
• Ethan Fieldman
  Co-Founder
  Study Edge
• William Weil
  Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Tales2Go
• Jason DeRoner
  Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  TeachBoost
• Kevin McAliley
  Chief Executive Officer
  Think Through Math
• Eileen Buckley
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  ThinkCERCA
• Jeanette Haren
  President and Chief Executive Officer
  TrueNorthLogic
• Krishna Vedati
  Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Tynker
• Zak Ringelstein
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  UClass
• Jeffrey Mathews
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Upraised Learning
• Dan Yang
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Vinci Education
• Paul Gollash
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Voxy
• Andrew Howard
  Co-Founder and President
  Wowzers
• Chris Walsh
  Chief Executive Officer
  Zaption
• John Danner
  Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Zeal
• Smita Bakshi
  Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer
  Zyante

Cc: Commissioner Clyburn, Commissioner O’Rielly, Commissioner Pai, and Commissioner Rosenworcel

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