E-rate Update - More Information Gathered
Message Posted June 23, 1998
Two events happened this week that have given us additional insight into funding and administration of the E-rate program.
First, Mickey Revenaugh, the Schools and Libraries Corporation's Vice President for Outreach, presented a workshop on E-rate at the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC) in California. Although I did not attend the conference, we have received the highlights of her presentation from several attendees. The points listed below, however, are only current
as of today, and may be changed in the coming weeks due to Congressional action. We'll keep you posted.
Second, the FCC finally released the full text of their Fifth Order on Reconsideration, the decision that slashed the program's funding. It's available at http://www.fcc.org. Until today, we only knew general impacts of the decision. Some of the highlights of the actual Order as it impacts the E-Rate program:
* The order is clear that schools whose applications were filed with the SLC outside the 75-day window will receive no funding.
* The next filing will begin on October 1. There will be an initial filing window, but the SLC must determine its length.
* Schools may voluntarily extend their contracts to June 30, 1999 to complete the fiscal year.
* Schools that have their internal connections approved have until June 30, 1999 to complete these projects.
* The new rules of priority for the initial filing window are as follows:
- First, fund telecommunications services and Internet access for all discount categories. (Good news. This means that everyone who filed an approved application during the 75-day window will receive at least their discounts on everything in these two categories.)
- Second, the SLC shall allocate the remaining funds to the requests for support for internal connections, beginning with the most economically disadvantaged schools and libraries, as determined by the schools and libraries discount matrix.
- Third, if the remaining funds are not sufficient to support all of the funding requests that comply with the Commission's rules and eligibility requirements within a particular discount level, SLC shall divide the total amount of remaining support available by the amount of support requested within the particular discount level to produce a pro-rata factor.
- Here is a statement as to how far they expect the funding to stretch: "We expect that, for the initial 18-month funding period, the collection levels established in this Order will enable all of the applicants eligible for discounts of 90 percent to receive full support for internal connections, and that at least a substantial portion, if not all, of the support requested for internal connections by applicants eligible for discounts of 80 percent will be provided."
NOTES FROM SLC E-RATE WORKSHOP
1998 PROGRAM
* With the new timeline extending this funding year until June 30, 1999, contracts can be voluntarily extended (or renewed) without rebidding until that date. Funding confirmation letters (when they come out) will extend the requested monthly payments for telecommunications services and Internet access automatically until the end of June. Requests for the additional funds will not have to be filed. This means that if you submitted a Form 471 for a telecommunications service that costs $100/month (and that's what you filed on Item 15, Column 9), you will be automatically funded $100/month until June 30, 1999 instead of until December 31, 1998. If a district or library DOES receive discounts on internal connections, those funds will not have to be spent until June 30, 1999.
* All fax notices about problem resolutions have been sent. By the end of this week, every applicant who did not respond to the fax notice should receive either a phone call or a registered letter confirming that they have been notified of a problem. If applicants do not hear anything by next week, they may assume their application is in the pool and has gone on to the next level of integrity checking which examines every application line by line to be sure that all services requested are E-rate eligible.
* Funding commitment letters probably will be sent no earlier than mid-August. SLC hopes to announce a schedule for the mailings and other steps in the program in the upcoming weeks.
* The eligibility list (for services) will be updated this summer. It is promised that it will be more definitive, and may contain information on each item explaining which section of the forms (internal connections, telecommunications, etc.) that item should be listed in.
1999 PROGRAM
* Both Forms 471 and 470 will be available to be posted online. Prompts will help people avoid mistakes on 471.
* There WILL be another filing window for the second year of E-rate, perhaps up to 90 days.
OTHER
* The SLC and the Family Education Network will be hosting an online town meeting, June 24 - July 1 at www.familyeducation.com for parents to discuss the role of technology in their children's education. Participants will be
able to post questions and viewpoints, access linked resources on technology planning and parent involvement, and participate in an instant online survey.
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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