E-rate Update - Program Facing Serious Challenges
Message Posted June 9, 1998
Many of you probably have been hearing the E-rate program being discussed in the press during the last week as Congress, the telephone companies, and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) debate funding level and sources, and whether the fund even should be continued. To date, there have been no formal actions taken by the FCC to make any of these decisions; however, we are expecting some ruling by this Friday, June 12. Of course, we will notify you immediately when decisions have been made. As you have probably guessed, the events taking place in Washington D.C. this week pose the most serious threat to the program to date.
To make it easy for schools and libraries to follow up-to-the-minute developments on these high-level discussions, we have added a link to the PA E-rate homepage under the Breaking News section at the top that instantly searches E-rate articles and news stories. The easiest way to access the homepage is to go to www.L2L.org (our new Link-to-Learn site) and click on E-rate. Finally, the Schools and Libraries Corporation has just released the following statement to all applicants regarding events on Capitol Hill.
-- Julie
SPECIAL ADVISORY:
STATUS OF WASHINGTON POLICY DECISIONS ON THE E-RATE
As some of you may be aware from press accounts over the past few days, the size and shape of the Schools and Libraries Universal Service Fund, better known as the E-rate, is currently the subject of serious debate within the FCC and on Capitol Hill. At issue are the level and source of funding, how the program should be administered, and
whether the fund should be suspended or continued for 1998. Decisions are expected over the next three to five days that will affect current applications for 1998 discounts as well as the schedule for 1999 applications.
As decisions are made, the SLC will inform applicants through all available means what impact the decisions may have on them and what specific steps they should take in the weeks ahead. We wish that we could provide more definitive information at this time, but the FCC has not yet completed its decisions.
Until we can offer definitive answers on the size and shape of the program going forward, the SLC wants the E-rate community to know that processing of 1998 applications is moving ahead. Our Problem Resolution and Program Integrity Assurance Teams are continuing to contact applicants for the additional information needed to move
applications to the funding commitment stage.
Please watch the SLC web site and your e-mail for program news as it becomes available, and also be certain to monitor your phone, fax, and mail for contacts from our application reviewers.
-- SLC
Julie L. Tritt
Executive Policy Specialist
Office of Educational Technology
Pennsylvania Department of Education
333 Market Street
10th Floor
Harrisburg, PA 17126
Tel: (717) 787-5820
Fax: (717) 787-7222
00jtritt@psupen.psu.edu
www.state.pa.us
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