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Like many parents, Arielle Roth has concerns about her children鈥檚 screen time at school. But unlike her peers, she鈥檚 in a position to influence the issue at nearly every school in America.

Roth heads an obscure federal agency within the Commerce Department that serves as the president鈥檚 top policy adviser on telecommunications issues. In that role, she鈥檚 called for more scrutiny of federal policies that support technology in the classroom, with , and coordinated between federal agencies. She calls the struggle 鈥渄eeply personal.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 hard enough to manage at home,鈥� Roth, a mom of six, said at a . 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 even harder when screens have become inescapable at school.鈥�

Now the Federal Communications Commission 鈥� and riding a broader backlash to education technology 鈥� is conducting a that could lead to their elimination, or new requirements for schools to restrict screen time or allow parents to opt out in order to receive the money.

The changes under consideration could be financially devastating and deeply disruptive to classrooms and daily school operations, district leaders and education advocates say.

Paid for through fees on telephone bills, the roughly $3 billion a year E-Rate program . The nearly 30-year-old program is the fifth largest source of federal support for schools, according to .

FCC Chair Brendan Carr asked . He said the FCC鈥檚 review will consider 鈥渆ducational opportunity,鈥� as well as whether 鈥渁dditional safeguards, refinements, or updates are needed to better protect kids online.鈥�

The review comes even as the White House remains an of and as schools are under conflicting pressures to and .

In an interview with , Roth, administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, said it鈥檚 time to ask 鈥渨hat E-Rate has meaningfully accomplished and how it has affected behavior.鈥�

鈥淪ubsidies are not neutral,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ubsidies can encourage greater consumption. Understanding how the program has changed educational practice is really important.鈥�

But E-Rate first and foremost supports schools鈥� access to a modern utility, said Noelle Ellerson Ng, chief advocacy and governance officer at the School Superintendents Association.

鈥淪creen time is a curriculum and a content question,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he FCC is not the body to regulate those things.鈥�

Schools use E-Rate for security, finances, and instruction

When Congress approved E-rate in 1996, just 14% of U.S. schools had internet access. Then-FCC chair Reed Hundt as 鈥渢he biggest single national effort to change education in classrooms K-12 in the history of our country.鈥�

A set bandwidth targets and made more money available for WiFi and internal building connections. The hope was that 鈥� though within five years, school technology directors were .

Still, school district leaders say that access really has been transformative.

Thanks to E-Rate, high school students in the Alaska Gateway School District, where many schools can鈥檛 be reached by road for most of the school year, can take virtual career-technical courses to prepare for apprenticeships, Superintendent Patrick Mayer said. The internet also allows Indigenous language teachers to tap online Athabaskan language resources.

鈥淐onnectivity is very important for us because it is our lifeline to the outside world,鈥� he said.

It鈥檚 not just instruction. Schools use the internet for everything from school security and HVAC systems to attendance and payroll.

But has internet access improved student learning? An found no improvements in California. More have .

Meanwhile, , and have led schools to and , as well as .

At a in September, parents discussed how dysregulated their children became after hours on tablets, how shallow and rote the learning felt, and how difficult it was to opt out. Their comments will be shared with the FCC, which is .

鈥淔acilitating screen time is effectively the choice to harm our kids,鈥� said Peter Ryan, a parent activist and co-founder of the Center for Responsible Technology. 鈥淭o do so is to give them a digital drug.鈥�

That same week, the Education Department hosted a convening called 鈥淔rom Screentime to Screen Value,鈥� put on by an . The Education Department and the FCC did not respond to questions about their role in the E-Rate review.

Screen time concerns have helped conservatives revive and other .

Among the more vocal critics is U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, where Roth previously worked on telecommunications policy. Cruz sponsored , but it stalled in Congress.

鈥淕ood policy occasionally takes the scenic route,鈥� Cruz wrote in a praising the FCC E-Rate review.

FCC puts parental opt-out policies on the table

The FCC鈥檚 E-Rate review sets the stage for commissioners to vote on major changes to the program. Without published draft rules, advocates are left reading between the lines as to what those might be.

The issues that concern school districts the most are the FCC鈥檚 views on whether E-Rate should end, whether E-Rate should be limited to rural communities, and whether schools should have to adopt technology limits and opt-out policies to participate.

Ending E-Rate 鈥� a possibility this summer and which many advocates don鈥檛 believe is within the FCC鈥檚 authority 鈥� would be catastrophic, district leaders said.

E-Rate provides more than $700,000 a year for Alaska Gateway, about 7% of the district鈥檚 budget, Mayer said. In larger districts, it can be worth many millions. Because schools can鈥檛 go without internet, they鈥檇 have to find that money elsewhere in their budgets.

鈥淭he school districts that are more affluent would continue to have modern schools, and those that serve less affluent areas would be the ones making the toughest choices,鈥� said LaTonya Goffney, president of the School Superintendents Association and superintendent of the Aldine Independent School District, a high-poverty district in Houston.

But mandatory opt-out policies would also be disruptive, district leaders said, because they would require teachers to develop alternative lesson plans and potentially single out students with disabilities who rely on technology for accommodations.

Parents know what鈥檚 best for their own child, Ellerson Ng said, but 鈥渟uperintendents are responsible for every child in their district and all of their diverse needs.鈥�

Roth, though, said robust opt-out provisions could encourage a bigger conversation about school internet use and would be consistent with the Trump administration鈥檚 focus on parental rights.

鈥淭he same conditions that give parents an escape valve could also serve as a check on the subsidy to make sure school districts aren鈥檛 using more than they need,鈥� she said.

But with E-Rate on the line, even some advocates for stricter screen time limits are nervous.

鈥淎ll of these questions they鈥檙e asking about screen time and the education efficacy of technology and families鈥� input on what happens in schools are the right questions,鈥� said Haley Hinkle, policy counsel at Fairplay, a group that fights the influence of tech in children鈥檚 lives. 鈥淲e鈥檙e concerned about tying these questions to the provision of internet.

鈥淚n the modern world, schools need internet, and kids need internet.鈥�

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