PROVIDENCE, R.I. � A new analysis released today by the Alliance for Excellent Education finds significant gaps in students� access to high-speed Internet in Rhode Island.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. � A new analysis released today by the Alliance for Excellent Education finds significant gaps in students� access to high-speed Internet in Rhode Island.

The analysis comes in advance of a vote by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Thursday that could increase funding for the federal E-rate program by $1.5 billion per year, and provide the state with access to $16.3 million over the next five years to improve Wi-fi access in the state�s schools and libraries.

�No modern business expects to function without access to high-speed internet,� said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. �Why should we expect it of our schools and libraries?�

According to data from the FCC, only 19 percent of Rhode Island�s students had access to high-speed Internet through the E-rate program from 2009 to 2013.

Should the FCC vote to increase funding for E-rate, Rhode Island would have access to $16.3 million in E-rate funding for Wi-fi over the next five years�money that would allow the state to expand high-speed internet access to 132,600 additional students, 374 additional schools, and 61 additional libraries.

When E-rate was first enacted in 1996, only 14 percent of the nation�s schools were connected to the internet. Today, nearly all schools and libraries are connected. Despite that success, many schools and libraries still do not have access to high-speed broadband.

As demand for internet access grows, so do requests for E-rate funding. As a result, demand for E-rate funds outpaces supply by more than two-to-one. For example, Rhode Island requested $6.4 million in E-rate funding in 2012 but only received $2.6 million.

To pay for the increase in E-rate funding, the FCC anticipates that consumers would pay an additional 16 cents a month or $1.90 a year.

�For less than the cost of a holiday greeting card, the best gift the FCC can give to America�s students and teachers is increased funding for the E-rate program,� said Wise.