{"id":21511,"date":"2017-09-26T01:46:53","date_gmt":"2017-09-26T01:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/e-ratepaorg.local\/?p=21511"},"modified":"2017-10-03T01:49:58","modified_gmt":"2017-10-03T01:49:58","slug":"fcc-seeks-comments-on-how-to-improve-category-2-funding-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/?p=21511","title":{"rendered":"FCC Seeks Comments on How to Improve Category 2 Funding Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

September 26, 2017<\/p>\n

Attached:\u00a0DA-17-921A1 – PN on C2<\/a><\/p>\n

The FCC has just released a Public Notice seeking comments from schools, libraries and others about the E-rate Category 2 funding initiative and ways it should be improved. \u00a0Specifically, they are seeking input on these issues:<\/p>\n

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  1. The sufficiency of Category 2 budgets.<\/li>\n
  2. Is $150\/student (or $2.30 or $5\/sq. foot for libraries) over 5 years enough funding?\u00a0 How have applicants have used their budgets and what percentage of the eligible C2 projects were NOT covered by the C2 budget amounts?<\/li>\n
  3. Are there specific situations where the C2 budgets were not enough because of differences in geography, rural status, applicant type, or student population?<\/li>\n
  4. For those applicants that have not used any of their C2 budgets, why?\u00a0 Did those applicants already have adequate internal connections in place before FY 2015 when the C2 initiative began?\u00a0 Do they intend to seek support for category two services in FY 2018 or FY 2019?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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    1. The administration of the budgets from both from a policy perspective and with regard to the application process.<\/li>\n
    2. Should the C2 budgets be calculated differently (different than student counts or square footage)?\u00a0 \u00a0Is there a simpler way to calculate the C2 budgets?\u00a0 If so, how?\u00a0 How would that simpler method be an improvement over the current system?<\/li>\n
    3. How could the current C2 application process be changed to ease the burden on applicants?\u00a0 Specifically, how could EPC be changed?\u00a0 The Form 471?\u00a0 The Invoicing Process?\u00a0 Form 500?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Feel free to include comments on anything Category 2-related that you want the FCC to know or change, not just the topics listed above, such as\u2026<\/p>\n

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      1. District-wide allocation instead of building allocation?<\/li>\n
      2. Easing of equipment transfer rules?<\/li>\n
      3. Need for comprehensive C2 budget tracking tool?<\/li>\n
      4. Expansion of eligible equipment list?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Comments are due by Monday, October 23.<\/strong>\u00a0 If you\u2019ve ever thought, \u201c$150\/student isn\u2019t nearly enough to cover what we need in a school,\u201d or \u201cI wish the rules gave districts a single C2 budget that covered all buildings and not require a building-by-building allocation,\u201d this is your chance to provide input to the very FCC officials who will be making those changes<\/em>.\u00a0 I encourage anyone who has comments \u2013 even brief, 1 page comments that only touch on one aspect of C2 \u2013 to submit those comments to the FCC by October 23.\u00a0 \u00a0I promise you, the FCC staff who write the rules read every comment that is submitted.<\/p>\n

        Submitting comments is easy to do and here are the steps:<\/p>\n

        Writing Comments:<\/p>\n