{"id":35144,"date":"2023-11-01T01:53:53","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T01:53:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/e-ratepaorg.local\/?p=35144"},"modified":"2023-11-06T01:56:01","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T01:56:01","slug":"school-bus-wi-fi-e-rate-eligible-in-fy-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/?p=35144","title":{"rendered":"School Bus Wi-Fi E-rate Eligible in FY 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #222222;\">November 1, 2023<\/span><\/p>\n<p>~ No details yet ~<\/p>\n<p>~ FCC seeking public comment ~<\/p>\n<p>The FCC has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.fcc.gov%2Fpublic%2Fattachments%2FFCC-23-84A1.pdf&amp;data=05%7C01%7Cpl-erate%40lists.psu.edu%7C6f5cfbd908484a4806c508dbdb0234d6%7C7cf48d453ddb4389a9c1c115526eb52e%7C0%7C0%7C638344574914772049%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=d%2FLmkfVJeULlcsd%2F6QXw5k%2FfwR1XZZ57MqTNFL%2FbDfY%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fdocs.fcc.gov%252Fpublic%252Fattachments%252FFCC-23-84A1.pdf%26data%3D05%257C01%257Cpl-erate%2540lists.psu.edu%257C6f5cfbd908484a4806c508dbdb0234d6%257C7cf48d453ddb4389a9c1c115526eb52e%257C0%257C0%257C638344574914772049%257CUnknown%257CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%253D%257C3000%257C%257C%257C%26sdata%3Dd%252FLmkfVJeULlcsd%252F6QXw5k%252FfwR1XZZ57MqTNFL%252FbDfY%253D%26reserved%3D0&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1699321890241000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3b_C3dukUNe-GF699wsm10\">approved<\/a>\u00a0Wi-Fi service and related equipment on school buses as E-rate eligible beginning in Funding Year 2024.\u00a0\u00a0This will come as especially welcome news to the 29 PA schools\/districts that received ECF funding for school bus Wi-Fi equipment and services which is set to expire June 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Most details are not yet known.\u00a0 For example, will there be a competitive bidding requirement?\u00a0 How will leased buses or contracted busing services be treated when the buses are not owned by the school?\u00a0 Will the E-rate forms be modified?\u00a0 Therefore, I encourage you to begin considering whether your school would like to apply for E-rate discounts on this service, but do not file any Form 470\u2019s or sign any new contracts yet.<\/p>\n<p>A revised\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.fcc.gov%2Fpublic%2Fattachments%2FDA-23-1011A1.pdf&amp;data=05%7C01%7Cpl-erate%40lists.psu.edu%7C6f5cfbd908484a4806c508dbdb0234d6%7C7cf48d453ddb4389a9c1c115526eb52e%7C0%7C0%7C638344574914772049%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=Kn%2BX2YH0tyUj1%2BQ%2FbErhlJu7FrrDxr%2B5GA6scZYCjmw%3D&amp;reserved=0\" target=\"_blank\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com\/?url%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fdocs.fcc.gov%252Fpublic%252Fattachments%252FDA-23-1011A1.pdf%26data%3D05%257C01%257Cpl-erate%2540lists.psu.edu%257C6f5cfbd908484a4806c508dbdb0234d6%257C7cf48d453ddb4389a9c1c115526eb52e%257C0%257C0%257C638344574914772049%257CUnknown%257CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%253D%257C3000%257C%257C%257C%26sdata%3DKn%252BX2YH0tyUj1%252BQ%252FbErhlJu7FrrDxr%252B5GA6scZYCjmw%253D%26reserved%3D0&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1699321890241000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0CL0cFMcyt5DBZWresIkSy\">draft<\/a>\u00a0Eligible Services List (ESL) has been released, seeking public comment through November 24, 2023 on several specific questions and overall implementation:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What equipment, such as antennas, routers, modems and other equipment, will be needed to provide Wi-Fi on buses?<\/li>\n<li>The service will be Category 1.\u00a0 Should the related equipment be Category 1 if this equipment is necessary to make the Category One mobile broadband service functional?<\/li>\n<li>Should any additional equipment and\/or services be eligible for support to provide Wi-Fi on school buses, and if so, under which category of service?<\/li>\n<li>What restrictions or limitations should be imposed to ensure the service is used primarily for educational purposes?<\/li>\n<li>Should use be limited to only students and school staff? \u00a0What types of measures are currently being implemented by existing bus Wi-Fi schools to limit access to student and school staff users?<\/li>\n<li>Is the FCC\u2019s estimate of $1840 per bus\/year accurate?\u00a0 If not, what are actual costs schools are paying?<\/li>\n<li>Should there be discounts on services during the summer months when school buses may be seldom used?<\/li>\n<li>Should existing contracts be grandfathered in and be exempt from the E-Rate competitive bidding requirements if applicants have entered into multi-year contracts for these services through the Emergency Connectivity Fund program?<\/li>\n<li>Should schools be permitted to park E-rate-funded Wi-Fi-enabled buses when not in use and allow community access?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I have already reached out to several schools and IUs to seek information related to many of these issues and will be meeting with the FCC in the coming weeks to discuss our needs and experiences. \u00a0We may not know answers to many of these questions until mid-late December at the earliest.\u00a0 In the meantime, please e-mail me if you have questions related to your specific situations (I won\u2019t know the answers, but I\u2019ll compile and try to get answers in the final rules).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-35146\" src=\"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/schoolbuswifi.png\" alt=\"schoolbuswifi\" width=\"363\" height=\"117\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&#8212; Julie<\/p>\n<p>Julie Tritt Schell<br \/>\nPennsylvania E-rate Coordinator<br \/>\n717-730-7133 &#8211; o<br \/>\njtschell@comcast.net<br \/>\nwww.e-ratepa.org<\/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>November 1, 2023<\/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-35144","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\/35144","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=35144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35144\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/e-ratepa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}