Propagation of minimum guaranteed scheduling rates

Propagation of minimum guaranteed scheduling rates among scheduling layers in a hierarchical schedule is disclosed. The minimum guaranteed scheduling rate for a parent schedule entry is typically based on the summation of the minimum guaranteed scheduling rates of its immediate child schedule entries. This propagation of minimum rate scheduling guarantees for a class of traffic can be dynamic (e.g., based on the active traffic for this class of traffic, active services for this class of traffic), or statically configured. One embodiment also includes multiple scheduling lanes for scheduling items, such as, but not limited to packets or indications thereof, such that different categories of traffic (e.g., propagated minimum guaranteed scheduling rate, non propagated minimum guaranteed scheduling rate, high priority, excess rate, etc.) of scheduled items can be propagated through the hierarchy of schedules accordingly without being blocked behind a lower priority or different type of traffic.