Year 2: Wave 8 E-rate Funding Commitments Listed
Message Posted August 27, 1999
Internal Connections Threshold Lowered to 65%
Congratulations to the following schools and libraries that are receiving
E-rate Funding Commitment Letters for Wave 8. The actual letters will be
mailed on Monday and should be arriving next week. A more detailed description of this list will be posted on the
SLD web site at:
http://www.sl.universalservice.org/SLC/Reference/fcyear2/2fcd.asp .
Detailed descriptions of the previous 7 waves already are posted if you
would like to check on your exact percentage and/or specific funding
category.
At the bottom of this message I have included 14 questions and answers that
should help explain the waves, why you may or may not be in each wave, and
how many letters you can expect to receive.
Many applicants have called wondering why their funding commitment letters
say "as yet unfunded" instead of funded, not funded or denied. "As yet
unfunded" means that your application has been processed and approved, but
they are waiting to see if they have enough money to fund it. You will
receive a follow-up letter toward the end of the waves indicating whether it
was funded or not funded.
* There will probably be at least 12-14 waves, so if you haven't been listed
in any of the first 8 waves, don't panic.
* This wave represents funding for a mixture of services, including
internet access, telecom services, and internal connections. The applicants
receiving funds for internal
connections are marked (*). The SLD has just announced that they are now
able to lower the funding threshold for internal connections applications to
65% . This threshold will may be lowered as the waves continue. Basically,
this means that if you have a discount of 65% or greater, and your
application is approved, you will receive funding for your internal
connections requests. As you will recall, in Year 1, only applicants with
discounts of 70% and above had internal connections funded.
* If you would like to view a sample funding commitment letter, go to:
http://www.sl.universalservice.org/SLC/Reference/fcyear2/2fcd.asp . Service
Providers also will be receiving a copy of the applicants' funding
commitment letters.
* The next step is to file a Form 486 to indicate to the SLD that service
has begun. Please remember that all Year 2 funding recipients must use the
new 486. Year 1 funding recipients that are still
filing 486's may use the old 486, but are stronly encouraged to proceed
with using the new 486.
* After you have received your funding commitment letter, check with your
service provider and ask if your bills will be discounted in the next
billing cycle, if you should submit a BEAR form for reimbursement, or if you
and your service provider can work out discounts locally without being
reimbursed via a BEAR form. If you choose to submit a BEAR form, please
remember to mark "YES" in column i of the Form 486.
Year 2 Wave 8
Albert Gallatin Area School District 25,560.00
Antietam School District 8,160.00
Area Catholic School of Sacred Heart 488.40
Barrett Friendly Library 1,567.80
Beaver Area School District 9,600.00
Bethlehem-Center School District 15,120.00
Bishop John McDowell Regional School 609.60
Bishop McCort High School 6,739.18
Boyertown Area School District 22,996.90
Burgettstown Area School District 7,920.00
California Public Library 571.20
Cambria County Library System 3,604.80
Carnegie Free Library 1,179.79
Coatesville Area Catholic Elementary School 1,680.00
Conshohocken Free Library 660.00
Downington Area School District 60,000.00
Duquesne Education Complex * 22,625.52
East Penn School District 5,280.00
Eastern Lebanon County School District 17,056.00
Evans City Elementary School 2,640.00
Flenniken Memorial Library 2,527.92
Franklin Area School District * 36,881.12
Franklin Junior High School 6,048.00
Greater Johnstown School District * 128,000.00
Greater Latrobe School District 8,840.28
Greensburg-Salem School District 38,862.00
Haine Elementary School 2,894.40
Hawley Public Library 4,687.32
Hazleton Area School District 33,876.96
Holy Family Institute * 65,155.20
Holy Trinity Lower School 609.30
Intermediate Unit 01 54,900.00
Intermediate Unit 05 83,460.70
Intermediate Unit 13 57,432.33
Jefferson Co-Dubois AVTS 4,006.80
Jefferson-Morgan School District 23,025.60
Lancaster County Library 8,668.80
Lancaster School District 28,593.60
Lebanon County Library System 2,631.66
Loyalsock Twp. School District 11,934.72
M M I Preparatory School 3,740.25
Marienville Area Library 600.32
McGuffey School District 1,194.00
Monaca School District 13,348.80
Montgomery Co-Norristown Library 4,345.80
Montgomery County Intermediate Unit 672.00
Mount Union Area School District 32,839.20
Northwestern School District 15,671.70
Orwigsburg Area Free Public Library 1,158.00
Our Lady of Victory School 924.00
Palmyra Area School District 6,252.00
Paoli Branch Library 624.00
Philadelphia School 2,620.00
Philadelphia School District * 6,301,049.20
Plymouth Public Library 37.50
Pocono Mountain Public Library 2,689.20
Red Lion Area School District 10,337.04
Resurrection of Our Lord School 1,048.00
Rochester Area School District 7,200.00
Rose Tree Media School District 103,402.27
Rowan Elementary School 1,315.20
Saint Boniface School 2,604.40
School of The Holy Child 2,376.00
Seton-LaSalle High School 3,744.00
Shamokin Area Jr-Sr High School * 5,663.70
Shanksville-Stonycreek School 2,184.00
Shenango Valley Community Library 2,284.80
Smethport Area School District * 4,013.75
Southern Columbia Area School District 12,673.80
Southern Fulton School District * 4,355.00
St. Anne School 3,618.40
St. Anthony School Programs 842.20
St. Benedict School 2,774.25
St. Eleanor School 908.00
St. Lucy Day School-Visual Impairment 1,261.00
St. Margaret School 840.00
St. Maurice School 1,008.00
St. Theresa School 2,571.98
St. Ursula School 636.80
Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia 3,168.00
Tri Valley School District 9,153.30
Troy Area School District 32,908.29
Tulpehocken Area School District 17,469.08
Turkeyfoot Valley Area School District 3,864.00
Tuscarora School District 46,718.77
Venango Christian High School 2,431.02
Weatherly Area School District 4,320.00
Wernersville Public Library 81.36
West Pittston Library 900.00
Wyomissing Area School District 17,760.00
Sum for State 7,521,298.28
1. What are the Waves?
The "waves" are actually groups of Funding Commitment Decisions Letters
sent by the SLD to applicants and service providers informing them of E-rate
discounts. Every Friday, a wave of letters is issued and information about
that wave is posted to this Web Site the following Monday. The Schools and
Libraries Division generates the waves of letters by processing applications
based on
the Federal Communications Commission's rules of priority and the timing of
when the
application was filed within the filing window. To learn more about how
the waves are formed, please read through the questions and answers below.
2. How will I be notified of my E-rate Funding Commitment?
The SLD will be sending out Funding Commitment Decisions Letters to inform
applicants of their approved E-rate discounts. These letters will be mailed
in waves, as decisions are made, rather than waiting for all applications
to be fully processed before issuing any letters. You may, therefore,
receive more than one letter if your application requested discounts on
internal connections.
Only those applicants who submitted requests within the "application
window" will receive Funding Commitment Decisions Letters during this
process. If you filed your
application after the window closed, you will be notified after all
applications filed within the window have been fully processed. To the
extent funds remain, applicants that filed outside of the application filing
window will be
funded on a first-come, first-serve basis.
3. When will the first wave of letters be sent and how frequently will the
waves of letters be sent?
A wave of letters will be mailed to applicants every Friday and a list of
recipients in each wave will be posted to the Web Site the following
Monday. This process will continue through August and into September. As
each wave is sent, we will announce its size (both in funds committed and
number of letters) on our Web Site on the day the wave is mailed.
4. How will I know which wave my letter is in?
There is no definitive way to know in advance which wave a particular
funding commitment letter might be in. We will post information about each
wave on
our Web Site the following Monday after it has been mailed and will announce
the size of each wave in a Newsflash to our list serv. To obtain a general
sense of the timing of your funding commitment, please see questions 7 - 11.
5. How is each wave formed?
There are several criteria that determine how each wave is formed:
* The FCC rules of priority: There are two basic levels of priority.
"Priority one" requests are all approved requests for discounts for
telecommunications services and Internet access; "priority two" requests
are for internal connections discounts. The FCC rules state that all
"priority one" requests should be funded for all school and library
applicants at every discount
level. If funds are sufficient to fully fund "priority one" services,
discount requests for internal connections, or "priority two" services, are
funded
beginning with applicants at a 90% discount level. For information about
how funding decisions are made on "priority two" services below 90%, see
Questions 5 and 6.
* Successful Data Entry: The date when the application was successfully
entered into the SLD database will also determine when a funding
commitment letter may be sent.
* Complete Processing: Before a funding commitment can be made, the SLD
must have completed processing of your application, including the Program
Integrity Review process.
6. If funds are available for internal connections requests below the 90%
discount level, how will SLD make these funding decisions?
Consistent with FCC rules, we will allocate funds to internal connections
requests beginning at the 90% discount level and to the extent funds remain,
continue to allocate funds by descending discount percentage (for example,
89%, 88%, 87%).
7. Will I get only one funding commitment letter?
No, not necessarily. We will issue funding commitment letters according to
the FCC's rules of priority (see Questions 4 & 5 for details) and when
decisions have been made on any of the requests made in your
application(s). Your discount level and the services you requested will
determine if you receive just one letter or more than one letter in
response to each application you filed. For example, if you requested only
"priority one" services, you will receive one letter with our decision on
all of your "priority one" services. If your application
included both "priority one" requests and "priority two" (internal
connections) requests, and your request is below the 90% discount level,
you may get two letters: one with a decision on your priority one services,
and a later letter
responding to your internal connections requests. If you filed multiple
applications, you
will receive at least one funding commitment letter in response to each
application.
8. My state telecommunications network filed one application covering
Internet access for every school in the state. It was a very large and
complex application, and seemed to generate a lot of follow-up requests
for information from your processing and review staff. When can we
expect to hear SLD's funding decision?
As a request for Internet access, this application is top priority in terms
of the FCC rules. However, the timing of a Funding Commitment Decisions
Letter will also depend on how effectively the state network was able to
respond to our follow-up requests, and how quickly the application moved
through data entry and Program Integrity Assurance review. If all of those
procedures
went smoothly, we should be able to make our funding commitment decision
and issue a letter in an early wave. Otherwise, the state network may hear
from us in a
subsequent wave.
9. I sent my Form 471 in to SLD electronically on the earliest possible
date--December 29, 1998. How will that affect the timing of my letter?
The timing will depend on the service for which you were seeking discounts
and how much time your application spends in Problem Resolution and Program
Integrity Assurance review. If there were no questions about eligibility or
discount level or if you answered such inquires promptly, AND if your
requests were for "priority one" services, then your letter may be in the
first waves. Otherwise, you will hear in one of the later waves.
10. I filed my Form 471 on paper and it spent a long time in Problem
Resolution. I received a number of phone calls and faxes from SLD offices
in Kansas. How will that affect when I get my letter?
The date of successful entry into the data system is one of the three key
criteria for forming the waves. The Problem Resolution process was focused
completely on readying applications for data entry, so a lengthy Problem
Resolution process would mean a later data entry date and therefore later
start for review by the Program Integrity Assurance team. If your
application does not require
lengthy Program Integrity Assurance review, you may still receive your
letter in
one of the earlier waves.
11. I have some issues still outstanding with your Program Integrity
Assurance team based in New Jersey. The extra documentation theyre
looking for might take me several more days to complete. How will that
affect when I receive my letter?
To receive a funding commitment, applications must have completed Program
Integrity Assurance Review, so you will not get your letter until we have
resolved any outstanding Program Integrity Assurance issues with you. A
delay in Program Integrity Assurance Review wont affect your actual
funding, only the timing of your commitment decisions letter.
12. Will my Funding Commitment Decisions Letter reflect the corrections I
made on my Receipt Acknowledgement Letter?
If you requested allowable corrections and we received them within the two
week timeframe, those corrections should be reflected in your Funding
Commitment Decisions Letter.
13. What if I have not even received a 471 Receipt Acknowledgement
Letter, but Year Two Funding Commitment Decisions Letters have begun
to be mailed?
As Funding Commitment Letters begin to flow, there are a small number of
applications that are still in the data entry process. We anticipate
completing the data entry process soon and many of you have been contacted
by our Client Service Bureau about your application. All applicants can be
assured that sufficient funds are being set aside for each and every
applications received within the window for "priority one" services.
Furthermore, if
your request for internal connections is at the same discount level request
as those in previous wave, you also can be assured that there is sufficient
funding for your
internal connections requests on your application.
14. Should I expect to see my discount on the next bill from my service
provider?
Your service provider will be notified of your funding commitment at the
same time you are, and will begin working at that point to implement
discounts on your bill. However, service providers cannot put discounts on
bills until a Form 486 has been processed for a funding commitment on
services. Realistically, discounts will not appear on bills any sooner than
the month
following the receipt of a Funding Commitment Decision Letter. The SLD will
be working with service providers and applicants regarding any
reimbursements that
might result from funding commitments received after the service start date.
Julie L. Tritt
Executive Policy Specialist
Office of Educational Technology
PA Department of Education
333 Market Street, 10th Floor
Harrisburg, PA 17126
(717) 705-4486
(717) 787-7222 - fax
00jtritt@psupen.psu.edu
www.L2L.org
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