October 16, 2017<\/p>\n
Attached:\u00a0C2 Budgets Used As of Oct 16<\/a><\/p>\n Funding Year 2018 marks the fourth year that schools and libraries can utilize the new E-rate Category 2 funding initiative.\u00a0 Calculating what has been spent and what remains to be used can be tricky as not all of the data rests in one single place.\u00a0 However, it is imperative for applicants to know this data so they can determine what Category 2 budgets remain by building.\u00a0 To help with this effort, I\u2019ve combined data from multiple sources and attached to this message is a spreadsheet that shows, by building, the pre-discount amounts of Category 2 funding that have been committed by USAC since FY 2015.\u00a0 Please read the following notes carefully so you understand what is and what is not included in this data.<\/p>\n How to Use This Data to Calculate Your Remaining C2 Budgets<\/strong> Libraries will use the same method to calculate remaining C2 budgets, but instead of $153.47 per student, they will use $2.35 per sq. ft. for non-urban libraries, and $5.12 per sq. ft. for large, urban libraries.\u00a0 <\/strong>See Library Sq. Ft. Tab in spreadsheet for details.<\/p>\n How Many Years Will Category 2 Funding Be Available?<\/strong><\/p>\n The answer is \u2013 we\u2019re unsure.\u00a0 The rules say that the C2 budgets are 5-year rolling budgets, based on the first year that any school in the district was committed C2 funding.\u00a0 However, the rules also say that the C2 funding initiative is only available through FY 2019, after which it will sunset unless the FCC takes action.\u00a0 Therefore, I strongly encourage all schools and libraries to consider their internal connections needs, and utilize their Category E-rate budgets in either Funding Year 2018 or 2019.<\/p>\n If you find that any data for any of your schools or libraries is inaccurate, please let me know.<\/p>\n Where Can You Find Category 2 Data?<\/strong><\/p>\n — FY 2015:\u00a0 https:\/\/slweb.universalservice.org\/form471publicdatatool\/app\/#\/<\/a> (\u201ccurrent\u201d view)<\/p>\n — FY 2016 and 2017:\u00a0 https:\/\/data.usac.org\/publicreports\/Forms\/Form471Detail\/Index<\/a> (\u201ccurrent\u201d form version)<\/p>\n Stay tuned for a Category 2-specific webinar in the next few weeks!<\/p>\n — Julie<\/p>\n Julie Tritt Schell Penn*link<\/p>\n\n\n
\nWith this data, you can easily calculate the amount of pre-discount Category 2 funding remaining.\u00a0 I\u2019ve included three extra columns (green) in the spreadsheet to show how to perform the calculations, and included an example (yellow).<\/p>\n\n
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\nPA E-rate Coordinator
\n717-730-7133 – o
\n717-730-9060 – f
\njtschell@comcast.net<\/a>
\nwww.e-ratepa.org<\/a><\/p>\n