The FCC is proposing spending $1 billion a year to bring Wi-Fi to schools

U.S. schools could get a cool billion to set up Wi-Fi networks to connect more than 10 million more students by the 2015-2016 school year under a new FCC proposal. Three out of five schools don’t have the Wi-Fi they need, yet no money was available for Wi-Fi last year under E-Rate, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s Internet funding program for schools and libraries, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said Friday in a proposal circulated to the agency’s other commissioners. Wheeler’s plan would allocate $1 billion in E-Rate funds for Wi-Fi next year and another $1 billion in 2016, with the goal of getting Wi-Fi to more than 10 million additional students in each of those years. It also calls for predictable funding in future years. If the agency takes action this summer, the Wi-Fi upgrades could be in place for the 2015-2016 school year, according to the proposal. The initial funding would come from $2 billion that the FCC has determined can be freed from reserve accounts and other sources, the proposal said.