Deadline Approaching to File Year 3 Form 471s
Message Posted January 12, 2000
File early to avoid slow web site and outside window deliveries
-- CSB hours extended over holiday weekend
--- New feature to ease online filing
1) This is an important reminder to all year 3 E-rate applicants: The Year
3 E-rate window will close at 11:59 p.m. on January 19, 2000 (next
Wednesday).
In order to have your application reviewed and considered, all Year 3
application documents must be received by that date, including the 470
signature and certification page, and the 471 application, signature and
certification page, and description of services attachment. They ABSOLUTELY
MUST reach Kansas by January 19 -- there are no extensions or waivers, and
the postmark doesn't count. Excuses that the overnight carrier didn't make
it don't even count.
This means that if you are planning to file your 471 online, you must have
it done by January 18th in order to print out the signature and
certification page and overnight it to Kansas. And please remember that for
many people, Monday is a holiday.
Having said that, I have checked the overnight carrier services just in case
you are waiting until the last minute to file. Both Fed Ex and UPS deliver
on Saturday and Monday, but the US Postal Service is closed on Monday. And
due to the backup from the holiday weekend, I strongly suggest that if you
are filing within the window, that your overnight packages be on their way
by Friday or Monday at the very latest. As many of your neighbors know,
there were alot of delivery services that didn't make it to Kansas on time
in the first two years. Please don't wait until Tuesday to mail your forms.
Also, many applicants have called asking if the deadline was going to be
extended. NO. January 19 is the final date.
Other applicants have indicated that it's OK if they don't get their
applications filed within the window. Wrong. You have no idea if there is
going to be enough money to fund all applications filed within the window --
let alone those filed outside the window. Don't take the chance.
A few other reminders:
-- The SLD web site is going to be slow and swamped from now until Tuesday
night -- so you may want to complete your online application over the
weekend and have patience in filing.
-- The 471 is new for Year 3, so you will want to give yourself enough time
to familiarize yourself with the new forms. As I have said before, the
instructions are excellent... please use them.
2) In order to assist you with completing the forms, the Client Service
Bureau (CSB) will be open for 12 hours, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday
and Monday ? January 15, 16, and 17. Tuesday and Wednesday (the 18th and
19th), the regular hours, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. will continue.
3) Also, to help applicants who represent school districts, Form 471, Block
4 has been redesigned to eliminate the need to redundantly execute the
search for schools by school districts. An applicant may now search for ALL
schools in a school district. From the resulting list, the applicant can add
the necessary data to each selected school. (Previously, the applicant had
to re-execute the search after addition of data for a given school.)
For entities filing as a School District, you will notice a new Radio Button
on the bottom of the Block 4 Search screen that reads "Search for all
Schools (in this School District) that are not yet added to worksheet." If
the user selects that button, a list of schools for the Block 1 district
will result. You can select--or alternatively, delete--the appropriate
schools from the resulting list and then cycle through the entities
providing the urban/rural, enrollment, and National School Lunch Program
data for the schools. If you stop part way through the process, a second
execution of this search will result in a list of the remaining schools.
Note: This type of search will result in a listing of only the schools in
the SLD's database that they show as being associated with the named school
district. You may need to perform additional searches (by zip, name, etc.)
to locate all of your schools. The initial search, however should find most
of them.
It is important that you carefully check to make sure that all of the
entities that are receiving shared services are listed on your discount
calculation worksheet(s).
For Consortium applications, this same functionality will exist for building
preparatory Worksheet A's for each district on a Worksheet C.
SLD expects that this new enhancement will be especially helpful to
applicants representing large school districts.
Julie L. Tritt
Executive Policy Specialist
Pennsylvania Department of Education
333 Market Street, 10th Floor
Harrisburg, PA 17126
(717) 705-4486
(717) 787-7222 - fax
jtritt@state.pa.us
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