Four things to consider as you apply for 2025 E-Rate Category Two discounts

This is an important year in this E-Rate funding cycle. Did you know that the 2020-2025 Category 2 E-Rate budget cycle concludes at the end of funding year 2025? The current application cycle may be your last chance to claim your remaining Category 2 E-Rate funds before they expire.

This means that 2025 is a “use it or lose it” year for the funding, so industry experts are saying that the time is now to find the gaps in your network, or to even consider a complete refresh depending on the amount of funding you have remaining.

There are Category One and Category Two services, and each has different rules and discounts.  For example, Category One is for internet feeds to a building/district whereas category two is for internet equipment within the building. Funds for Category Two services are based on a five-year cycle, with 2025 marking the end of the current cycle.

In many cases, even as schools have used E-Rate funding to increase their bandwidth, their needs have continued to grow exponentially. For instance, network infrastructure and broadband capacity rank among the top three issues for K-12 CTOs — and 58% say bandwidth continues to pose a challenge for video conferencing in education. As K-12 schools look to integrate cloud-based solutions, network complexity is also growing. 

Lean IT teams can struggle to navigate legacy system upgrades and new security mandates. The end of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding has added financial pressure, as well. With these obstacles to counter, K-12 leaders need solutions that make economic sense while being secure, accessible, scalable and able to adapt to today’s quickly evolving technological demands and funding realities.

Here are four areas of concern Edtech leaders may want to address this year:

1. Cybersecurity solutions: While technologies such as widespread internet access, mobile devices, and smart classroom tools help students reach their education goals and create more equitable learning experiences, they also generate a huge surface for cyberattacks. According to a recent survey, cybersecurity is still the top concern for EdTech Leaders. Meanwhile, according to the 2024 State of Ransomware in Education, there was a 92% spike in K-12 attacks. The use of two-factor authentication has seen a large increase, with 72% of districts requiring it in 2024, according to the CoSN survey. There are several options for districts seeking to apply E-Rate Category Two for cybersecurity, including managed network services with integrated security features.
2. Managed internal broadband services: Adding managed network support can extend your budget with E-Rate eligible services such as managed internal broadband services (MIBS) that support your school’s IT team. With E-Rate Category 2 eligible MIBS, school districts can extend the capabilities of overworked IT staff and keep up with rapidly evolving network needs without investing in costly equipment that can quickly become obsolete. When you buy and install your own network infrastructure, you’re also accountable for implementing patches and upgrades to keep these systems secure. With managed services, security patches and firmware changes are installed for you to keep your systems continually secure and up to date. IT departments can offload hardware installation, system configuration, maintenance, updates and network administration to an experienced partner. As a result, technology leaders won’t have to worry about allocating resources to manage these tasks — and they can focus their efforts on supporting students and teachers more effectively.
3. Managed WiFi services: A 2024 CoSN survey of Edtech leaders found that about half of school districts nationwide don’t have the staff needed to provide adequate classroom technology integration and support. Stretching to keep up with the demands of their one-to-one device programs, many K–12 IT teams have decided the answer is to offload some of the work. School districts can optimize diminishing IT resources by opting for E-Rate Category 2 eligible managed WiFi solutions that offer optimal coverage to advance educational objectives. 
4. Advanced connectivity with guaranteed availability: To feed the internal network the internet access and bandwidth it requires, schools and districts should seek out technology partners who can deliver secure, high-capacity, low-latency wide area network (WAN) connectivity. There are solutions available that support multi-device classrooms and reliable access to online and digital content with dedicated fiber internet connectivity, backed by a 100% uptime service-level agreement (SLA) guarantee. These solutions are eligible for E-Rate Category One funding. 

Spectrum Enterprise can help

Spectrum Enterprise has helped schools navigate the E-Rate process for over 20 years, designing custom-built solutions tailored to schools and districts.

We address Category One connectivity needs and Category Two MIBS managed network solutions for K-12 education that support easier management, enhanced security and improved IT support. With our 100% uptime SLA guarantee, we provide the bandwidth you need to achieve higher performance for the cloud-based applications students and teachers depend on — enabling a better experience for all. 

As an extension of your team, we can free your IT staff to focus on technology initiatives rather than the day-to-day demands of running the network. Our experts help you modernize your current systems, reducing your administrative burden, improving efficiency and conserving costs. Now, and in the future. If you need new equipment or are scaling existing equipment to upgrade capabilities, a managed solutions approach allows you to lease equipment and licensed software to avoid costly capital investments and maintenance.

For more than 20 years, Spectrum Enterprise has partnered with K-12 schools, districts and libraries to provide managed education services tailored to evolving needs. With our wide range of managed services and networking technologies, we can help you extend your E-Rate funding and create education solutions that support new levels of student achievement.

Find out why the two largest K-12 school districts in the U.S. rely on Spectrum Enterprise for technology solutions.