MetBlogger - Information Technology in Education

E-Rate: Year Nine

This year, get the funds you need to move forward.

By: Eric Durrand

Come January 20th 2006, it will be too late to apply for E-Rate funding for the year 2006; starting July 1th, 2006. The time to act is now – and there is an incentive. Cumulative E-Rate technology funding for 2005 have reached $1.05 billion so far, with last year’s funding totaling $2.3 billion. The average dollar amount granted for each application was $71,910.

Since 1996, when the President signed into law the Telecommunications Act, E-Rate has helped millions of children in the US to take advantage of school technology programs. The Education Rate (E-Rate) is the result of a regulatory decision made by the FCC, which stated that starting in January 1998, K-12 schools and libraries are eligible for up to $2.25 billion a year in discounts for a wide range of telecommunications services.

Based on the standards of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), many private schools are entitled to varying discounts – in the form of funding of up to 90% of their technology expenditure! Funding is given for different services, including Networking, Wireless Campus, Cellular Phones, Broadband Internet Access, T1 Internet Access, Mail, Hosting Services, and more. (Click here for a full list of eligible services.)

E-Rate application process starts with submitting a Form 470; this form describes the services and products applicants are seeking, including information that service providers need to best meet applicants' needs. Once this form is posted, the applicant must wait 28 days before he can sign a contract with a vendor, after which he can submit the second form, Form 471. Form 471 lists the eligible services for which applicants are requesting funding, the vendors providing them and the funding amounts.  Form 471, must be filed by February 19, 2006 or else… To find and download all the required E-Rate forms, and learn more about the process, click here.

Schools familiar with E-Rate should keep up to date as well. The E-Rate process is continuously changing. Among recent changes are the “Red Light Rule”, and the 90-Day rule, which we have covered previously in this newsletter. Personal Identification Numbers (PINs), helping identify each applicant, saving an extra step of certification has been added recently, adding speed, convenience and accuracy to the system.

The new “30% rule” permits E-rate to deny funding for any application, if 30% of which is, for ineligible services. This is why it is important to consult an accurate list of eligible services before applying. Some of the new services covered are Phone Services, Voice Mail, Alarm Lines, Firewalls, and Web Hosting. An important source for updates is the SLD’s (Schools and Libraries Department) own website.
 

The E-Rate funding can transform your school but making sure you get it next year requires you to stay up to date, plan ahead, save the dates, and set reminders! E-Rate subsidies for technology infrastructure allow educators to follow the path to advanced educational tools and methods. The gates are open, for a limited time, once again!

The E-Rate Changes

What should you know for year 2006-2007

By: Eric Durrand

Since 1996, E-Rate has been providing schools with money for purchasing an Internet Access Infrastructure. Total funding for Funding Year 2003 has reached almost $2.7 billion, supplemented by $450 million in previously unused funds which were rolled-over.  The total funding for Funding Year 2004 now stands at $2.17 billion.

But E-Rate rules, determining which schools, vendors, and technologies are eligible for discount are constantly shifting, as are the procedures of applying for funding. A school that becomes complacent, and stops following the E-Rate changes, may lose its funding.

Here are some important changes published recently by the FCC for 2004-2005:

·         The 30% rule which states that “If 30 percent or more of the request seeks discounts for ineligible services, the Administrator will deny the funding request in its entirety.” A good way to prevent the entire funding request from being rejected is to break it into multiple applications, each dealing with a different subject. This way, if a request is rejected it only represents a portion of the funding.  At the minimum, if you think that what you are applying for might not be eligible, make a separate request for it.

·         Service Providers are required to offer schools a choice of reimbursement method. Most vendors demanded that schools pay the full amount; then submits a BEAR form (Billed Entity Applicant Reimbursement) in order to get reimbursed for the funded portion of their payment.  It is now required that providers offer other alternatives such as: The school only pays for the unfunded portion and provider has to obtain the funded portion directly from e-rate, thus making it much easier for the school to meet its obligations.

The list of eligible, discounted, services have been expanded and now includes:

·         Phone services – whether land-line or cellular – to be used by administrative staff, or even the school’s bus drivers.

·         Voice mail - Voice mail services are now supported for discounts. Voice-mail equipment will probably also be covered.

·         Alarm lines – Telephone lines used to connect alarm systems are eligible now for funding.

·         Firewall – Firewall services for Internet access are now funded, though proxy servers are still not eligible.

·         Web hosting – Hosting service for a website is now funded for all districts, though charges for content creation and management are still ineligible.

Rule changes have made a few technologies ineligible as of 2004, including:

·         VoIP – Voice over IP’s status for funding is now unclear; In districts that receive Priority 2, VoIP equipment is still eligible, though for other districts the status needs to be clarified further by the FCC.

·         Dark Fiber – The lease of fiber optic cable without modulating electronics which allows the school to use it for communications is not supported. Only fiber optic lines ready to be used are supported.

Changes that do not apply in 2004-2005, will in 2005-2006, chief among those are:

·         The “2 in 5” Rule - The FCC has declared that, with the exception of maintenance, applicants can only apply for Priority 2 funding twice in a five year period.

·         Eligible Products Database - The SLD is working with manufacturers on creating an online database of internal connections products eligible for funding.  Applicants will be able to check the eligibility of a particular piece of equipment they are considering.  The database should be available by October.

E-Rate can be very advantageous to your school, and indeed grant students and educators access to a wealth of technology unavailable before. But to obtain funding, a school must follow constantly changing rules. One way to do that is to find a vendor that stays on top of E-Rate developments and keeps the schools updated too. This should not discourage the school from staying informed via sources such as the SLD website.

E-Rate’s 90-Days Rule

Know the Rules of E-Rate

By: Eric Durrand

Since the time President Clinton signed into law the Telecommunications Act, E-Rate has helped millions of children in the U.S. participate in School Technology Programs across the nation. The Education Rate (E-Rate) resulted from a regulatory decision made by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which stated that starting in January 1998, K-12 schools and libraries are eligible for up to $2.25 billion a year in funding for a range of telecommunications services.

E-Rate offers technology funding to eligible schools and libraries every year. Funding for 2003 has reached almost $2.7 billion, augmented by $450 million in previously unused funds, rolled-over into the year, and total funding for 2004 now stands at $2.17 billion.

From the time it was established E-Rate had been “plagued by mismanagement, waste, fraud and abuse,” according to a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). An ongoing federal investigation has already resulted in several arrests and convictions: In one famous case, the USAC disbursed $101.2 million over a course of three years, in order to provide Puerto Rican schools with high-speed Internet access; a later examination discovered a warehouse full of unopened boxes of equipment. Of the computers at its 1,540 schools, very few were actually connected to the Internet.

To complement the federal investigation, a tightening of funding criteria had ensued; with many new regulations that make it harder, even for the legitimate applicant, to receive funds. One example is the so-called “Red Light Rule”. Under this rule, no FCC-related benefits - including E-rate funding - may be provided to any entity that owes money to the FCC. The results can be denials of application based on applicant’s own records, or that of the vendor which serves them.

Even more crucially important is E-Rate’s new 90-Day Rule. The 90-Day rule states that an applicant's payment of the undiscounted share of his discounted services must be made within 90 days of receipt of service. Failure to pay within this period is considered a violation of the applicant payment rule, leading to cancellation of funding (and a demand for the repayment of discounted payments made to date). This strict rule can cause problems to many schools, especially those working with vendors that habitually delay their invoices, or have infrequent billing cycles. Also, problems may arise with disputed bills.

Schools need to make sure that they can comply with the 90 days rule before submitting an application. That may include including a clause about invoice in your agreement with the vendor, and to make sure the funds are properly allocated for each service. In the future, some rules may become less strictly enforced, or may even change. But in the present it is important to comply with the strictest interpretation, to avoid losing a great opportunity as well as breaking the law.