E-rate Update - Administrative Offices Eligibility
Message Posted April 2, 1998
SLC RELEASES FACT SHEET ON ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES AND BUILDINGS
The Schools and Libraries Corporation has created a new Fact Sheet explaining the circumstances under which telecommunications services, Internet access, and internal connections for school and library administrative offices and buildings are eligible for Universal Service Fund discounts. The Fact Sheet represents no policy changes, but instead presents existing program rules in plain language with examples.
The Fact Sheet is included in the body of this message. If you have any questions concerning this fact sheet, or if you already submitted a Form 471 which you believe may be inaccurate based on the clarifications listed below, please call the SLC client service bureau (888) 203-8100 as soon as possible to seek assistance.
The Universal Service Fund is designed to bring the benefits of telecommunications technology directly to classrooms in schools and public areas in libraries for educational purposes. Services to administrative offices and buildings are eligible for discounts under certain circumstances consistent with educational purposes. This Fact Sheet explains those circumstances.
*NETWORK OF SHARED SERVICES FOR LEARNING*
SLC Policy Statement
This statement was adopted by the Schools and Libraries Corporation Board of Directors on November 20, 1997, and is included in the list of Eligible Services.
"The primary purpose of the services for which support is sought must be the delivery of services into the classrooms or other places of instruction at schools and libraries that meet the statutory definition of an eligible institution. Support for the administrative functions of library or educational programs is permitted so long as the services are part of the network of shared services for learning. Universal service support will be limited to services delivered to the onsite educational facility or facilities. Services at a personal residence or at locations which do not host places of instruction or are not accessible to library patrons, with the exception of a centralized district office or similar facility, are not eligible for support."
SERVICES TO ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES
Within Schools: Telecommunications services, Internet access, and internal connections for administrative offices in a school building are eligible for discounts only if the same services are also delivered to classrooms and other places of instruction in that building. The only exception is Plain Old Telephone Services (POTS), which is eligible for discounts even if the service is delivered only to an administrative office of the school building. Example: If your school local area network is designed to include classrooms plus the principal*s office, the nurse*s office, and the teachers* lounge, the network installation as a whole would be eligible for discounts as internal connections. But if the same network did not include classrooms, it would not be eligible for discounts. If your school were applying for basic telephone service (POTS) only, however, services to the administrative offices would be eligible even if no classrooms were served.
Within Library Buildings: Telecommunications services, Internet access, and internal connections for administrative offices within a publicly accessible library are eligible for discounts only if the same services are also delivered to the publicly accessible rooms in that building as well. The only exception is Plain Old Telephone Services (POTS), which is eligible for discounts even if the service is delivered only to an administrative office of the library building. Example: If your library*s contract with an Internet Service Provider covers access from anywhere in the building, including the head librarian*s office, then the head librarian*s Internet access would be eligible for discounts. If Internet access is for the head librarian only, however, it would not be eligible for discounts. At the same time, if your library was applying for basic telephone service (POTS) only, services to the administrative offices would be eligible even if no areas accessible to library patrons were served.
SERVICES TO ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDINGS
Definition of Administration Building: Buildings operated by a school or school system that do not house classrooms, and buildings operated by a library or library system that are not accessible to library patrons, are defined as administrative buildings.
Telecommunications Services and Internet Services: Two-Part Test for Eligibility of Services to Administrative Buildings: Use the following test to determine whether telecommunications services or Internet access services for your administrative building(s) are eligible for discounts.
1. Is the building a centralized district office or similar facility?
2. Are the telecommunications and/or Internet services being provided to the administrative building as part of a network whose primary function is the delivery of such services to places of instruction in instructional buildings or rooms available to the public in libraries?
-- If the answer to both is yes, then the services are eligible for discounts.
-- If the answer to either is no, then such services are not eligible.
Example: Suppose your library system office, where the chief librarian and his or her staff is located, is also the hub of the telephone system that reaches each branch library building. The entire telecommunications system, including the services to the administrative building, would be eligible for discounts.
Example: Suppose your entire school district is covered by one Internet service contract providing access for all users, be they students in classrooms or staff in the central office where there are no classrooms. This entire contract would be eligible for Universal Service discounts as Internet access.
Internal Connections: Internal connections in an administrative building are eligible only if the connections are essential for the effective transport of data and information within an instructional building. In particular, routers, hubs and servers located in an administrative building are eligible only if the building is the host for LANs that serve instructional buildings. Connecting rooms within an administrative building by Ethernet or other means is not eligible.
Example: Suppose your school or library consists of several buildings, including an administrative building, on one campus not crossed by a public right of way. A network that connects all of these buildings on your campus would be considered a local area network; if the head-end of that network, including the server, hub, and router, were housed in the administrative building, then that server, hub, and router would be eligible for discounts. Caution: In almost every instance, internal connections connecting administrative buildings with instructional buildings that are NOT on the same campus constitutes a Wide Area Network. Please refer to the Fact Sheet on Wide Area Networks, posted on the NECA Web Site on March 2, 1998.
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Julie L. Tritt
Office of Educational Technology 717/787-5820
Pennsylvania Department of Education 717/787-7222 (fax)
333 Market Street, 10th Floor 00jtritt@psupen.psu.edu
Harrisburg, PA 17126 www.cas.psu.edu/pde.html
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