Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler announced today that he will step down next month and leave the Commission. From the perspective of K-12 schools, the importance of his contributions to E-rate modernization are hard to overstate. Indeed (and with all due respect to friends and colleagues at the U.S. Department of Education), the adoption of revisions and enhancements to the E-rate under Chairman Wheeler’s tenure may very well be the lasting legacy of the Obama Administration with respect to education. With Wheeler’s departure and based on what we can surmise, the E-rate under a Republican FCC shaped by PEOTUS Trump will likely face a new set of challenges.
