• Funding Status: PY2 – PY4
• Undertaking Action on CIPA
• Observations on Technology Plan Shortcomings

The following is a summary of the E-rate News for the Week of May 14, 2001, prepared by E-Rate Central. Official SLD news appears in the "What's New!" section of the SLD's Web site . Additional and archived information appears elsewhere in E-Rate Central's Web site .

Funding Status: PY2 – PY4

Program Year 2:

No information is available on the next wave of awards for the PY2 out-of-the-window applications.

Program Year 3:

The SLD appeal review process for PY3 is almost complete. A large batch of decisions letters will be mailed next week. Actual Funding Commitment Decisions Letters ("FCDLs") should begin to flow shortly thereafter.

Program Year 4:

Receipt Acknowledgment Letters ("RALs") have been issued on over 31,000 applications. Approximately 1,000 manually submitted applications remain to be data entered. The first funding award waves are now anticipated to begin in June or July following the FCC's confirmation of the PY4 funding level and OMB approval of a modified Form 486 and the new Form 479. The initial waves will likely deal only with telecommunications and Internet access discounts. Internal connection requests cannot be processed until the FCC rules on the allocation of the remaining limited funds.

The SLD released a detailed analysis of the expected impact on a FCC internal connections decision based on either of two proposed options. Under the first option, by which available internal connection funds would be prorated among all 90% discount applicants, the SLD estimates that actual discounts would be about 73%. Alternatively, if such funds are provided only to applicants that were not awarded PY3 internal connection discounts, funding for new PY4 applicants may be available down to the 81% discount rate level. (For a more detailed discussion of the SLD's funding analysis see their Web site.

Undertaking Action on CIPA

The SLD is in the process of preparing detailed guidance on the compliance requirements for the Children's Internet Protection Act ("CIPA") but, in the interim, has posted an answer for one specific question: What steps should PY4 applicants take now so as to be able to sign a Form 486 certification that they are "undertaking such actions" to be CIPA compliant in PY5?

As we suggested two weeks ago, it is important to document the "undertaking actions." The recent SLD posting includes an overview of the CIPA requirements and provides a number of documentation examples. The SLD's CIPA guidance is available at their Web site.

Observations on Technology Plan Shortcomings

Applicants that have been involved in E-rate since the first program year, and that received three-year approvals of their technology plans at the time, are reminded that renewed approvals are required for PY4 (beginning July 1, 2001). Given the greater SLD scrutiny of applications in recent years, it is important that the technology plans clearly address the five criteria set forth for E-rate approval, namely:

• The plan must establish clear goals and a realistic strategy for using telecommunications and information technology to improve education or library services.
  
  
• The plan must have a professional development strategy to ensure that the staff knows how to use these new technologies to improve education or library services.
  
  
• The plan must include an assessment of the telecommunication services, hardware, software, and other services that will be needed to improve education or library services.
  
  
• The plan must provide for a sufficient budget to acquire and maintain the hardware, software, professional development, and other services that will be needed to implement the strategy.
  
  
• The plan must include an evaluation process that enables the school or library to monitor progress toward the specified goals and make mid-course corrections in response to new developments and opportunities as they arise.

Having reviewed several hundred plans for E-rate approval, our observation is that most technology plans generally cover the first three criteria, but frequently fail to address the following issues:

• The plan should include implementation dates. Although E-rate plans can be approved for up to three years, it should be clear that the plan covers at least the next three years (PY4 – PY6, ending June 30, 2004). If the plan does not extend that far, approval would have to be for a lesser period.
  
  
• The plan should include actual budget numbers, not simply state that funds are available. The SLD is looking for an explicit recognition that financial resources are needed and are expected to be available to implement the technology plan. At a minimum, a simple table showing dollar amounts for major technology expense categories for each of the next few years (corresponding to the implementation timeline) should be provided. For a three-year approval, budget projections should run through 2003-2004.
  
  
• The plan must include an explicit acknowledgment that there is a process in place to evaluate and modify the plan as necessary. Most applicants already have such a process, but do not always make it a part of the plan. In many cases, this criterion can be met with an added paragraph or two.

Applicants seeking additional guidance on technology plans and the E-rate approval criteria should reference our Technology Plan Primer available on this Web site by clicking HERE or the SLD's Web site.