Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Every Child Connected Act”.
Every Child Connected Act
A BILL
To require the Federal Communications Commission to make amendments to the E-rate program of the Commission, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 E-rate program
Definitions— In this section—
the term Commission means the Federal Communications Commission;
the term covered household means a household with a child eligible to receive free or reduced price lunch under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.) or free or reduced price school breakfasts under the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq.);
the term distance learning has the meaning given the term in section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801); and
the term E-rate program means the universal service program set forth under subpart F of part 54 of title 47, Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulations).
Updates to E-Rate program—
In general— Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall amend the E-rate program to provide that—
activities that are integral, immediate, and proximate to the education of a student, even if those activities are performed in a covered household, qualify as activities that are for educational purposes for the purposes of the E-rate program;
a covered household in which a student is engaged or participating in distance learning shall be deemed to be a classroom for the purposes of the E-rate program; and
the eligibility of a school under the E-rate program, or any support received by a school through the E-rate program, shall not be diminished if the school extends services obtained through the E-rate program to a covered household.
Coordination— In making the amendments required under paragraph (1), the Commission shall coordinate with the Secretary of Education and appropriate instrumentalities of State and local governments.
Technical and conforming amendments— Section 254 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 254) is amended—
in subsection (b)(6), by inserting “covered households (as defined in section 2(a) of the Every Child Connected Act and solely for the purposes described in section 2(b)(1) of that Act),” after “schools and classrooms,”;
in subsection (c)(3), by inserting “covered households (as defined in section 2(a) of the Every Child Connected Act and solely for the purposes described in section 2(b)(1) of that Act),” after “schools,”; and
in subsection (h)—
in paragraph (1)(B), in the first sentence of the matter preceding clause (i), by inserting “covered households (as defined in section 2(a) of the Every Child Connected Act and solely for the purposes described in section 2(b)(1) of that Act),” after “secondary schools,”; and
in paragraph (2)—
in subparagraph (A), by inserting “covered households (as defined in section 2(a) of the Every Child Connected Act and solely for the purposes described in section 2(b)(1) of that Act),” after “classrooms,”; and
in subparagraph (B), by inserting “or household” after “public institutional”.