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Year 9 (2006-07) Wave 3 E-rate Funding Committed
~ Year 9 486 still not available ~
Message Posted May 8, 2006
Congratulations to the following 41 Pennsylvania schools and libraries that will be receiving Year 9, Wave 3 E-rate Funding Commitment Letters, totaling $1,097,791.66. A summary of each commitment is listed below, and detailed information will posted on the SLD web site under Funding Commitments in a few days at: http://www.sl.universalservice.org/funding/. If you find that your funding commitment letter does not arrive in a timely manner, please call the SLD ASAP to get a replacement (888-203-8100). All Year 9 correspondence will be sent in YELLOW.
A wave will be arriving every week until the Year 9 funding is exhausted. This wave consists of requests for Priority 1 services (telecom and Internet). There are many, many more waves coming (there have been a total of 47 so far for Year 8), and your commitment likely will be in one of the upcoming waves.
To assist you in understanding the funding waves, there is a Q & A posted at the end of this message.
NEXT STEP: FILE THE 486 (The Year 9 Form 486 is not yet functionable; I will post a message to the listserve as soon as it becomes available.)
This form tells the SLD 3 things:
1) that they are authorized to pay invoices (either BEAR or SPIFs)
2) that your technology plan has been approved (and by which SLD-certified approver). Note: If your technology plan has not yet been approved by PDE or other certified approver, you may not file the 486 until it has been approved.
3) that you are CIPA compliant.
Tips for Filing the Form 486
* For applicants requesting discounted bills this year, the service provider must receive a copy of the 486 approval letter before they can begin discounting your bills. So the sooner you file this form, the better.
* The 486 should be filed electronically under the "apply online" section of the SLD's website at http://www.sl.universalservice.org/menu.asp. And the Form 486 PDF typically works better than the Interview version.
* The PDF version seems to skip around while you're completing it, but in the end, all questions are answered and inserted into your form.
* If you file the 486 before the funding year begins on July 1, 2006 (and I strongly encourage you to do so), you MUST check item 6A on the Form 486 (to signify early filing). If you file the 486 on or after July 1, then you can ignore this box.
* If you're CIPA compliant, you can also skip boxes 6B and 6C.
* For Item 7, Column F should list 07/01/2006.
* For Item 11, if you are not a consortium, and you are CIPA compliant, you should only check 11A.
* Print a copy of the 486 after you hit submit, but before you eCertify because after you eCertify, it doesn't permit you to go back to the form.
* If you don't have a copy of your Year 9 Form 471 handy, wait until you receive your Funding Commitment Decision Letter in a few days. Both forms contain your Entity Number, 471 #, FRN #s needed to complete the 486.
* Again, the Year 9 Form 486 is not yet available online. As soon as I it becomes available, I will post a message to the listserve.
If you have any questions, please contact me at jtschell@comcast.net.
E-rate Year 9, Wave 2
Applicant Amount
Abington Friends School $ 3,114.24
Achievement House Charter School $ 89,112.24
Allegheny Valley School Dist $ 42,438.12
Beaver Area School District $ 2,026.37
Carmichaels Area School Dist $ 8,982.00
Central Cambria School Dist $ 35,271.70
Claysburg-Kimmel Jr-Sr H S $ 10,407.60
Columbia Public Library $ 782.28
Conemaugh Twp Area Sch Dist $ 9,214.86
Connellsville Area School Dist $ 65,823.89
Devereux Beneto Brandywine $ 25,469.10
Exeter Township School Dist $ 47,999.76
Fayette Co Area Voc-Tech Sch $ 18,288.00
Greene County Library System $ 1,954.76
Greensburg Central Catholic Hs $ 11,746.36
Hempfield Area School District $ 55,332.69
Hopewell Area School District $ 22,715.32
Incarnation Of Our Lord School $ 1,944.00
Indiana County Technology Center $ 11,520.00
Intermediate Unit 06 $ 53,550.00
Iroquois School District $ 27,066.00
Laboratory CS for Comm. & Lang. $ 26,496.00
McGuffey School District $ 35,116.11
Midland Borough School Dist $ 17,280.00
Moniteau School District $ 12,203.99
Nanty Glo Public Library $ 705.60
North Star School District $ 41,395.38
Northwest Area School District $ 9,743.45
Pennsylvania Distance Learning CS $ 38,172.38
Phoenixville Area Sch District $ 14,419.08
Riverside Beaver Co Sch Dist $ 15,991.28
Sch of the Holy Child-Rosemont $ 12,452.26
Scottdale Public Library $ 1,005.12
Scranton Preparatory School $ 14,376.00
Shade Central City School Dist $ 21,179.30
South Allegheny School Dist $ 78,330.07
St Boniface Elementary School $ 757.44
St Ignatius School $ 432.79
Uniontown Area School District $ 110,997.73
Village Charter School $ 65,062.69
Western Beaver County Sch Dist $ 36,915.70
Year 9, Wave 3 Total $1,097,791.66
FAQ's on Waves
* This wave only contains funding for priority one services -- telecommunications services and Internet access. There is sufficient funding for all approved Priority 1 requests, however, given total demand of nearly $3.55 billion with funds available of $2.25 billion, it is too early to determine whether there will be enough funding available for internal connections for all applicants.
* If you disagree with a funding commitment decision, an appeal letter MUST be received at the SLD within 60 days of the date that is on the decision letter (not the letter's postmark date). There are no exceptions to this rule.
1. How will I be notified of my E-rate Funding Commitment?
The SLD will be sending out Funding Commitment Decision Letters to inform applicants of their E-rate discounts. These letters will be mailed in waves, rather than waiting for all applications to be fully processed before issuing any letters. Only those applicants who submitted complete requests within the "application window" will be receiving Funding Commitment Decision letters.2. When will the first wave of letters be sent and how frequently will the waves of letters be sent?
Every week a wave of letters will be issued to applicants. As each wave is sent, the SLD will announce its size and post state-by-state information on their Web Site.3. 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 Decision Letter might be in. The SLD will post information about each wave on their public Web Site the first business day after it has been mailed.4. Will I receive only one Funding Commitment Decision Letter?
No, not necessarily. The SLD will issue Funding Commitment Decision Letters according to the FCC's rules of priority (See questions 5 -6 for details) when answers are known about any of the requests made in your application(s). If you submitted multiple applications for services, you will receive more than one Funding Commitment Decision Letter. If you submitted only one application for discounts on all three types of service -- telecommunications service, internet access, and internal connections -- you may receive more than one Funding Commitment Decision Letter.5. How is each wave formed?
There are three factors determining how each wave is formed:
* The FCC Rules of Priority: There are two rules of priority.
"Priority One" approved requests are for discounts on telecommunications services and Internet access and "Priority Two" approved requests are for discounts on internal connections. If "Priority One" services can be fully funded, discount requests for internal connection, or "Priority Two" services, are funded beginning with the highest need at the 90% discount level.
* Successful Data Entry: The date when the application was successfully entered into the SLD database will also determine when a Funding Commitment Decision Letter may be sent.* Complete Processing: Before a funding commitment can be made, the SLD must complete processing of your application, including the Program Integrity Assurance (PIA) review process. The SLD has set aside funds to cover all telecommunications and Internet access requests received inside the filing window. They will consider "priority two" requests - Internal connections requests - if there are remaining funds available.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, the SLD will consider Internal Connections requests below the 90% discount level, by discount level - 89%, 88%, 87%, etc.
Julie Tritt Schell
jtschell@comcast.net
www.e-ratepa.org
(717) 730.7133 (voice)
(717) 730.9060 (fax)
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