A proposed $0.16 fee increase on your telephone bill would go toward improving Internet access for kids in school and libraries.

About two-thirds of U.S. schools don’t have the broadband speeds they need to provide digital learning services, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler said Monday. Wheeler’s proposal to revamp the 18-year-old E-Rate program, which helps schools and libraries pay for broadband infrastructure and services, would increase the agency’s Universal Service Fund tax on each telephone line by up to $0.16 a month, from the current $0.99.

With 45 percent of U.S. schools lacking Wi-Fi capacity to deliver service to each student, the U.S. is not meeting its goal of providing adequate broadband to schools, Wheeler said during a press conference. “We must do better,” he said. “Investing E-Rate is about our education system, it’s about our economy, and it’s about our global competitiveness.”

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here