{"id":32602,"date":"2020-09-02T19:29:26","date_gmt":"2020-09-02T19:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/e-ratepaorg.local\/?p=32602"},"modified":"2020-09-11T19:32:46","modified_gmt":"2020-09-11T19:32:46","slug":"new-category-2-budget-calculations-for-fy-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/?p=32602","title":{"rendered":"New Category 2 Budget Calculations for FY 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #222222;\">September 2, 2020<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Attached:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/PA-C2-Budget-Calculations-9-1-2020.xlsx\" class=\"mtli_attachment mtli_xlsx\" target=\"_blank\">PA C2 Budget Calculations 9-1-2020<\/a><\/p>\n<p>~ Starting C2 budgets for all PA applicants is attached ~<\/p>\n<p>Beginning in Funding Year 2021, the new Category 2 rules go into effect and all applicants will start fresh with a new, 5-year C2 pre-discount budget.\u00a0 Below is a summary of the changes and attached is a list containing each applicant\u2019s 5-year, C2 pre-discount budget under the new rules (please read the message below to understand how the budgets are calculated).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>C2 budgets will be on a fixed, 5-year cycle and applicants can use their C2 budget during any of those 5 funding years<\/strong>.\u00a0 The next C2 cycle will be FY 2021 \u2013 2025.\u00a0\u00a0 Any C2 budgets not used at the end of the cycle will not carry forward to the next C2 budget cycle (which will be FY 2026 \u2013 FY 2030).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Different budget calculation options depending on entity size.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Larger entities (10 or more schools\/libraries) will have two options and smaller entities will have the same two options plus a hybrid option to potentially provide a higher C2 budget.\u00a0 See below for details on all of these budget calculation options.<\/li>\n<li><strong>C2 budget multipliers and the funding floor (minimum building budget) will be set by the FCC at the beginning of each 5-year budget cycle and apply to the entire cycle\u00a0<\/strong>(no yearly adjustments for inflation).<strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>For the FY 2021 \u2013 FY 2025 cycle the multiplier and funding floor have been set as follows:<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>School multiplier is<strong>\u00a0$167.00<\/strong>\u00a0per student.<\/li>\n<li>Library multiplier is\u00a0<strong>$4.50<\/strong>\u00a0per square foot for all libraries, regardless of IMLS locale code.<\/li>\n<li>Funding floor is\u00a0<strong>$25,000<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>C2 budgets are calculated at the school district or library system level, with no more individual school or library building C2 budget caps.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0This means school districts and library systems can use their C2 budgets to purchase equipment\/services for whichever schools\/libraries they need to.<\/li>\n<li><strong>C2 budgets are set at the beginning of the cycle, using the enrollment in EPC for FY 2021.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>However, if enrollment or library square footage increases in future years, applicants have the option to \u201crecalculate\u201d their C2 budget with the higher figures, thus giving them a higher C2 budget.\u00a0 Applicants must validate their student counts or library square footage in the first year they apply for C2 funding in the relevant 5-year budget cycle.\u00a0 If enrollment decreases, the C2 budget will\u00a0<em>not<\/em>\u00a0decrease.\u00a0 However, schools will continue to be required to update their enrollment\/NSLP data each year for discount calculations purposes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>New school construction:\u00a0<\/strong>School districts with buildings under construction are no longer permitted to estimate the number of students for those buildings because those students will otherwise be counted in the district-wide enrollment data.\u00a0 An independent school (not part of a district), such as a charter school or private school, that is adding a new school will be allowed to estimate its enrollment in order to request funding while construction is underway.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Equipment purchased beginning in FY 2021 may be transferred between buildings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>If equipment is transferred between buildings within 5 years from date of purchase, applicants must update their asset inventory and record reason and date of transfer.\u00a0 No notice to USAC is required.\u00a0 There is no change to the rule which allows equipment to be disposed of, sold, transferred, etc. from 5 years from the date of installation.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Reminder:\u00a0 C2 budgets remain PRE-DISCOUNT budgets<\/strong>, meaning your E-rate discount will then apply.\u00a0 For example, if your 5-year pre-discount budget is $300,000 and your E-rate discount is 50%, you are eligible for E-rate funding up to $150,000, not the full $300,000.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>How to Calculate Your 5-year C2 Budget<br \/>\n<\/strong>Depending on your entity type and size, there are different options to calculating your available C2 budget as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>School District with 11 or more schools: \u00a0<\/strong>Greater of these two options:<strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>1) district enrollment X $167, OR 2) Number of schools X $25,000.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Library System with 11 or more libraries:<\/strong>\u00a0 Greater of these two options:\u00a0 1) total square footage of the library branches in the library system X\u00a0 $4.50, OR 2) # of library branches in the library system X $25,000.<\/li>\n<li><strong>School Districts and Library Systems with 10 or fewer schools\/libraries (USAC calls these \u2018child entities\u2019) have a third \u201chybrid\u201d option.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>The hybrid method allows these smaller entities to calculate their C2 budgets on a per-site (per school\/library) basis using the greater of either the $25,000 funding floor and the budget multiplier, then adding up each school\/library\u2019s individual school budgets to obtain the district-wide\/system wide C2 budget.\u00a0 (Hint: a school with fewer than 150 students would want to use the $25,000 funding floor for that school instead of the $167\/student.\u00a0 Likewise, a library branch with less than 5,556 square feet would want to use the $25,000 funding floor instead of the $4.50\/sq ft.)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Single School:<\/strong>\u00a0 School enrollment X $167, OR $25,000, whichever is greater.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Single Library:<\/strong>\u00a0 Square footage X $4.50, OR $25,000, whichever is greater.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>USAC Category 2 Budget Tracker<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>USAC has a great new C2 budget tool that calculates the total amount of C2 funding available (no funding has been \u201cused\u201d thus far), using the most advantageous budget calculation option for each entity type.\u00a0 In future years, the tool will track each entity\u2019s C2 budget, including amounts pending and committed, and remaining budgets.\u00a0 The tool is available in USAC\u2019s Open Data platform:\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/opendata.usac.org\/E-rate\/E-rate-C2-Budget-Tool-FY2021-\/8z69-hkn7\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/opendata.usac.org\/E-rate\/E-rate-C2-Budget-Tool-FY2021-\/8z69-hkn7&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1599931832576000&amp;usg=AFQjCNER1H0cVOaJfJpNvQMe9ztFVbwyIg\">https:\/\/opendata.usac.org\/E-rate\/E-rate-C2-Budget-Tool-FY2021-\/8z69-hkn7<\/a>.\u00a0 To see specific data, use the simple Filters on the right toolbar (be sure to click \u2018Apply\u2019 after selecting your filter).\u00a0 Then click \u2018Export\u2019 to download the results into Excel.<\/p>\n<p>Attached is the entire database of PA schools and libraries taken from the USAC C2 Budget Tracker, showing their Category 2 budgets as of 9\/1\/2020.\u00a0 These amounts will change as entities update their enrollments when the Admin Window opens in a few months.\u00a0 But for now, it will give you a good sense of what your 5-year pre-discount budget will be so you can begin making plans.\u00a0 Note:\u00a0 I especially appreciate that the USAC C2 Tool provides the # of buildings and the \u201cC2 Budget Algorithm\u201d used to calculate the C2 budget, meaning which budget calculation method was determined by the system to be the most advantageous.\u00a0 I also love that it will include \u201cpending\u201d C2 funding requests so we can monitor in real time when an applicant has requested funding in excess of their available C2 budget.<\/p>\n<p>If you have any questions about the new Category 2 budget rules, please let me know.\u00a0 I will be scheduling a C2-specific webinar this fall to go over all of these changes as well as to provide an overview of what\u2019s eligible for C2 and the C2 bidding options\/requirements.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212; Julie<\/p>\n<p>Julie Tritt Schell<br \/>\nPennsylvania E-rate Coordinator<br \/>\n717-730-7133 &#8211; o<br \/>\n<a href=\"mailto:jtschell@comcast.net\">jtschell@comcast.net<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.e-ratepaorg.local\/\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http:\/\/www.e-ratepaorg.local\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1599931832576000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE-WZ6vVLASQ2UNEQO9dsAd4SZ8Fg\">www.e-ratepa.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n<div class=\"twitter-share\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?via=eratepenn\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-size=\"large\">Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>September 2, 2020<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-listserve_archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}