What E-rate consultants charge, from the contracts the Senate reviewed

What a school pays its E-rate consultant is not reported to the FCC or USAC. It shows up only in board-approved contracts, one district at a time. For its October 2026 report, Senate Commerce Committee staff collected 143 of those public agreements. Here is what they found.

The typical fee

Committee staff found that many schools that use consultants pay between $5,000 and $15,000 a year. At the upper end, some districts pay more than $100,000 a year, with total contract costs approaching $1 million over the life of an agreement. Milwaukee Public Schools signed a nearly $800,000 contract for three years, more than $250,000 a year on average.

Percentage and hybrid deals

Some agreements tie the consultant's pay to the funding secured. The report cites three:

• Decatur Public School District in Illinois agreed to pay K12 Consultants ten percent of expended E-rate funding, which came to nearly $40,000.
• Willoughby-Eastlake School District in Ohio paid Educational Funding Group a flat $6,100 a year or nine percent of disbursed funding, whichever was higher.
• Baldwin Park Unified in California paid CSM Consulting a $26,000 flat fee plus six percent of funds requested for internal network infrastructure, capped at $46,000 a year.

“Percentage-based fees and hybrid pricing structures reward consultants for higher project expenditures.”

Who pays the fee

Consultant fees are not an eligible E-rate cost. A district pays them from its own budget, even when the fee is calculated as a percentage of its E-rate award. The FCC's June 2026 proposal would bar fees based on a percentage of funding. The Senate report recommends requiring public disclosure of consultant pay.

What this means for you

If your district pays a percentage, multiply it by last year's approved funding to see what you paid. If you pay a flat fee, compare it with the $5,000 to $15,000 range. Either way, the contract is a public record your board approved.