Patterns of E‐Rate funding to school districts: an eight state comparison

Purpose – The E‐Rate program has been widely applauded for helping American schools achieve almost 100 percent internet connectivity, up from 14 percent in 1996. However, mismanagement and complex administration problems have tainted the program's fame, making it a target for criticism by many commentators, scholars and even governmental agencies. Previous research has suggested that the complex and multi‐stage application process may prevent some school districts from availing of E‐Rate funds due to lack of technical expertise and administrative support. The objective of this paper is to examine the patterns of distribution of E‐Rate funds, especially across the rich‐poor and rural‐urban divides, using nationwide data.Design/methodology/approach – A total of eight states were selected, two each from four categories defined based on the degree of urbanization and per capita personal income: rural rich, rural poor, urban rich and urban poor. From these states, a total of 343 school districts were randomly ...