Year 2 E-rate To Begin Next Week
Message Posted July 9, 1999
* YEAR 2 FUNDING COMMITMENT LETTERS STARTING NEXT WEEK
Announcements from SLD seem to be promising that the first wave of commitment letters will be mailed next Monday. This year's schedule plans mailings on a regular weekly basis.
It is very possible (almost probable) that you will get more than one commitment letter if you filed for internal connections and telecom/internet services on one 471. Because the demand for funds was larger than the available pot of money again this year (2.4 billion vs 2.25 billion), the SLD will once again have to prioritize which requests get funded. Because it is certain that Priority 1 services (telecom and Internet access) will be funded entirely, the SLD can send commitments for those services out as soon as they are data entered and approved by the PIA (Program Integrity Assurance) staff. (You know if your data entry is done when you receive your Receipt Acknowledgement Letter...see next bulleted item.) The Priority 2 services (internal connections and equipment) cannot be funded until all the Priority 1 money is committed, so commitment letters for those requests will follow later. Word from SLD is that all commitments will be sent by late summer (which may interpreted as the end of August or little beyond.)
Please remember that applicants that receive funding commitment letters first are not in any higher priority than anyone else. It most likely means that they submitted their 471 online and that they had NO issues with problem resolution and program integrity. The longer it takes an application to be data entered and processed to ensure the application is complete and "has integrity", the later that applicant's funding commitment letter will be issued.
* RECEIPT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT LETTERS STILL BEING MAILED TO APPLICANTS
Not all applicants have gotten their RALs (Receipt Acknowledgement Letters) from the SLD data entry staff (20,000 letters have been mailed out of 32,000). About 7,000 are currently in problem resolution (and have SLD staff calling applicants to correct the problems), and SLD estimates that by the end of this week, virtually all of the 32,000 applications will be data-entered and through problem resolution (thus are to the RALetter stage) or will be in problem resolution. The SLD staff have indicated that very few applications have been denied due to failure to meet minimum processing standards.
If you have not received your Receipt Acknowledgement Letter and would just like to be sure that your application was received within the application window, you can call 888-203-8100 and ask them to check. They will be able to verify that it has been received, however they cannot assist you with PIA. You may want to consider this if you're getting nervous.
Remember that the Receipt Acknowledgement Letter (RAL) just shows you what data has been entered into the system and gives you a chance to correct any mistakes that they (or in some cases, you) have made. If you have gotten yours, please check it carefully and send in your corrections. Look especially closely at requests you have made on a single line that actually covers several types of services (perhaps line installation, equipment purchase and set up, maintenance agreements, monthly service fees, etc.) If you have any questions about whether entries are correct or could be changed, please contact me or perhaps the SLD hotline (1-888-203-8100) to talk about them. You only have TWO WEEKS after receiving your RAL to make those corrections, so don't delay.
* PROGRAM INTEGRITY CALLS TO BE COMING
Part of the application processing at SLD involves the examination of applications for the propriety of the requests. This year, instead of faxes or letters, these questions are being handled by phone (hurray!). Some PA applicants have gotten questions from the PIA people. Mostly what they want is more detail...be sure to keep your records handy. (And if you get a call....look on the bright side. That's the last step before funding commitment.)
One quick note: During my meetings with the Year 3 Task Force and SLD staff, I have learned some more about the inner workings at SLD and Program Integrity. I'll put these insights into a future e-mail, but two things that you should know:
1) The PIA staff has an extensive database of eligible and ineligible services and products. When you list or provide a certain piece of equipment with brand name and product code, they can immediately tell if it's eligible or not. If their database says it's unsure, they will call you to get more information about how that product is being used. The Year 3 Task Force has strongly recommended that this database be available on the SLD web site for applicant use in Year 3. In the meantime, if you are at all unsure if a product is eligible or not, you should call the 888-203-8100 folks and request to speak to someone in PIA. They will be able to check their database and let you know.
2) Remember last year when you received a fax from the SLD PIA staff and when you tried calling them back, there was no way of knowing who sent the fax or who you should talk to get the situation resolved? Well there's great news this year. The PIA staff has been divided into regions to ensure that whoever CALLS (not faxes) you will be the person you can call right back with pertinent information. I have learned that PA has been assigned three staff members. If you have any problems with the PIA stage of the application process, please let me know so I can intervene.
* BEAR REIMBURSEMENT FORM OR NOT
In Year 1, almost everyone had to file BEAR forms to get reimbursement for bills which were paid in full before the discount process could be set up. In Year 2, it is possible that you will not need to file any BEAR forms at all. Service providers are getting copies of your RALs and your funding commitment letters at the same time you do, and so, in many cases (mostly those where funding letters arrive before August 15), can set up their billing procedures to bill you only for the undiscounted amounts beginning July 1.
There are a couple of instances in which that won't work, however. If funding is not approved on some item until late August or early September, a full bill may be sent and you will need to file a BEAR to be reimbursed. And a very few providers have found that their accounting systems cannot be set up to work with the discount system. They are working with the SLD to arrange some other method of billing their clients. More detailed information will be coming in this issue.
* FILTERING REQUIREMENT APPEARS TO BE FORTHCOMING
Congressional action requiring that a technical filtering system of some type be installed on computers with Internet access which are used by children and paid for by E-rate is coming closer and closer to reality. House and Senate versions are in conference committee to finalize language. It seems almost foregone that the Acceptable Use Policies which so many of you have in place will not be enough to meet this requirement and some kind of software solution will be required. It is very likely that rules for schools and for libraries will be written differently since there are different constitutional issues involved. We will keep a close eye on developments, including timelines for complying, funding Problems, and technical issues and will send out more information about the filtering requirements if and when they become law.
Julie L. Tritt
Executive Policy Specialist
Office of Educational Technology 717/705-4486
Pennsylvania Department of Education 717/787-7222 (fax)
333 Market Street, 10th Floor 00jtritt@psupen.psu.edu
Harrisburg, PA 17126 http://www.l2l.org
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