E-rate Update - Active Week for the E-rate Program
Message Posted July 30, 1998
Several newsworthy events have happened over the past week that you should be aware of. Although not having an immediate impact on the E-rate program, they certainly are events of which you should be aware. -- Julie
First, a proposal has been introduced by two Congressmen to replace the current E-rate discount program with an initiative that would block grant funds to the states to distribute. The legislation, introduced by Sen. Burns (MT) and Rep. Tauzin (LA), proposes to use 1% of the existing 3% federal excise tax on telephone bills to fund the program. The remaining 2% of the tax would be repealed.
Under the bill, the Schools and Libraries Corporation (SLC) would be eliminated and authority for the program would be removed from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) six months after the effective date of the Act, thus keeping the current program intact until disbursements can be made for the current funding year. Instead, the program would be
administered by the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration and block granted to the states based on a two-part funding formula based on number of students and amount of Title I provided to the state. Text of the proposal is at http://www.senate.gov/~burns/BURNRATE.htm
The total annual fund would be approx. $1.7 billion and would be authorized through the year 2003. It is not known if the fund would cover the same services that are eligible under the current E-rate program.
The Subcommittee on Oversight of the Committee on Ways and Means is holding a hearing on the proposal on Aug. 4.
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Second, in an apparent sign of good news, the SLC recently sent a letter to the FCC requesting approval for retroactive payments be made directly to E-rate applicants. In the letter, the SLC informed the Commission that many Form 471 applicants have received and paid in full for eligible services prior to their receipt of the SLC funding commitment notification and that these applicants may request payments be made directly to them. Under the program, payment would normally go to the service provider, not the applicant.
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Third, the Senate approved an amendment to the Commerce Department's Appropriations Bill that would require schools and libraries that receive funds from the E-rate program to utilize Internet filtering software to prevent minors from gaining access to Internet pornography. The measure, introduced by Sen. McCain, would give local authorities, such as school boards and libraries, some flexibility to decide what content should be blocked from minors. Sen. Burns and others had been working on an amendment that would give school boards and local communities much more power and flexibility in determining the method of restricting minors' access to Internet pornography. The Senate will continue debate on the bill and no date has been set for a final vote.
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Finally, the SLC released the following update on the Program Integrity Assurance (PIA) process and explained the necessity of the PIA calls.
"As many E-rate applicants are aware, the Schools and Libraries Corporation's Program Integrity Assurance reviews are in full swing. These reviews are intended to assure that applications are in compliance with Federal Communications Commission program rules. We are very pleased with the responsiveness of applicants to calls from our PIA staff.
There are two categories of phone calls that we want to make sure applicants fully understand. First, you may know that, inresponse to a recommendation from the General Accounting Office, we have agreed to conduct a random sample of applications to validate our program integrity review procedures. To do this random sample, we may need to contact applicants who have already interacted with the PIA staff. We deeply appreciate the cooperation of those applicants who may receive this second contact. Completion of the sample is necessary before funding commitments can be issued.
Second, some applicants with discounts less than 80% or 90% have expressed concern that PIA staff are contacting them about internal connection requests in light of the impact of the FCC's decision on funding levels for the program's first year. We wish to reemphasize that until we complete all reviews we will not know for certain the discount levels for which we will be able to provide funding. There remains the possibility that applicants with discount levels less than 80% will nonetheless receive some
funding for internal connections. In addition, please remember that all requests for telecommunications and Internet services will be funded, so PIA contacts are necessary on all applications subject to PIA review.
Thank you for your help as we work to complete these important PIA processes."
-- 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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