Hi! It’s Lily and Erica on the national desk. Today’s big story is about the future of the federal program that helps keep school internet running. Keep reading for one state’s solution to grade inflation concerns and a dive into the big problems created by small schools.

If you’ve got thoughts about schools and tech, please join us Oct. 1 for a members-only conversation about, you guessed it, schools and tech. We’ll be talking about the tension between AI adoption and screen limits and the technology choices schools are making right now. This event is for Chalkbeat members. Donate any amount to become a member, support Chalkbeat’s independent education journalism, and reserve your spot. We hope to see you there!

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When E-Rate launched in 1997, the internet’s potential to transform society was just coming into focus, and only a small share of schools were connected. Today, nearly every school in the country is online, and the internet is basically a modern utility, as essential as running water or electricity to classrooms and building infrastructure. 

E-Rate has enjoyed bipartisan support. But there have always been conservative skeptics who thought this wasn’t the federal government’s job, or who didn’t like that this program was funded through a fee rather than through congressional appropriations. 

Now growing concerns about screen time have helped revive those critiques. The Federal Communications Commission is conducting a wide-ranging review of E-Rate that includes really big questions like: Should E-Rate go away? Has it served its purpose? Has it even helped education? Should schools have to adopt certain screen time policies or allow parents to opt out if they want to keep getting federal money? 

A key figure driving this conversation within the Trump administration is Arielle Roth, who heads up the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, an obscure agency within the Commerce Department. She often opens her public remarks by telling people that, as a mom of six, this issue is deeply personal to her. She’s convened listening sessions with tech-skeptic parents and called for more scrutiny of how federal policy shapes school district decisions.

“Subsidies are not neutral,” Roth told Chalkbeat in an interview. “Subsidies can encourage greater consumption. Understanding how the program has changed educational practice is really important.”

The FCC is taking public comment through Oct. 13. The process potentially sets the stage for big changes — or litigation to stop those changes.  

School district leaders and education advocates say doing away with E-Rate would be catastrophic. Schools would still need internet, and the money would have to come from other parts of their budget. They also say the FCC is not the right agency to investigate the educational efficacy of internet access and that screen time policies should be local decisions.

“Screen time is a curriculum and a content question,” said Noelle Ellerson Ng, chief advocacy and governance officer at the School Superintendents Association. “The FCC is not the body to regulate those things.”

Read the full story.

When universities made admissions tests optional, the share of students from low-income families ticked up, but only modestly so, recent studies show. Black and Hispanic student populations also increased at those universities. Recently, a handful of elite colleges have brought back the testing requirement, sparking debates about whether students enrolling are really prepared for a rigorous college experience. But the stakes to this policy might be lower than the intensity of the debate suggests.

South Carolina lawmakers have banned minimum grades, which critics say let students scrape by academically without doing the work. The legislature’s actions are an attempt to crack down on grade inflation, which has become a national concern. Educators said they fear that no-zero policies ultimately hurt students, though proponents say grade floors can help struggling students succeed.

How I improved attendance by 30% in the first two months of school

By our sponsor, Sanford Harmony at National University

Murry Bergtraum High School for Business in Manhattan once enrolled 3,000 students, and was lauded as one of the city’s top schools. Enrollment is down to about 90 students these days, and is in the bottom 1% of city high schools for four-year graduation rates and attendance. 

So, what happened? Our New York colleagues took a deep dive, finding that Murry Bergtraum has been in a spiral for two decades. And while former district leaders have raised the idea of closing the high school, that hasn’t happened. The inaction has left Murry Bergtraum in a strange circumstance, with no extracurricular offerings, a $46,000 per student price tag that’s twice the citywide average, and some students who feel shortchanged by their small school.

Citywide, 146 schools have fewer than 250 students, an eightfold increase from 25 years ago, a Chalkbeat analysis found. 

And this isn’t just a New York problem, either. In Chicago, a 2025 Chalkbeat and ProPublica investigation found 47 schools in the city’s school district were operating at less than one-third capacity. Many of the schools serve the city’s highest-need students, are in historic buildings, and badly need millions of dollars in repairs.

This is a familiar conundrum for city school districts, and what seems like the obvious solution for districts — to close down underenrolled schools — can be really unpopular with communities.

But critics of small schools say it’s a dereliction of duty to keep underenrolled schools open without taking action.

“There’s always some crisis that makes it convenient to do this hard work another day,” said Karin Goldmark, a former deputy chancellor under former Mayor Bill de Blasio who oversaw school closures and mergers. “It’s almost impossible for a school that size to serve students well.”

That’s the number of school bond issues voters will consider on their ballots this November, according to EdWeek. The measures would enable school districts to borrow $53 billion, to fund everything from facilities improvements to technology upgrades to new security measures. But voter support for these measures has declined.

That’s Najya Hannah-Jones, quoted by her mother Nikole Hannah-Jones, a New York Times reporter. Hannah-Jones shared in an essay published Sunday that Najya, her 16-year-old daughter, had begun to question her mother’s very public decision to enroll Najya in a high-poverty and predominantly Black school in New York City, rather than a wealthy white school.

If you’re in the education sphere, there’s a good chance you read Hannah-Jones’ essay, and maybe even all the discourse that’s followed. We’re interested in hearing from students, families, and educators about the emotions and thoughts Hannah-Jones’ essay sparked. Drop us a line at [email protected] or just reply to this email.