E-Rate Central News for the Week
May 19, 2008
The E-Rate Central News for the Week is prepared by E-Rate Central. E-Rate Central specializes in providing consulting, compliance, and forms processing services to E-rate applicants. To learn more about our services, please contact us by phone (516-832-2880) or by e-mail. Additional E-rate information is located on the E-Rate Central Web site.
FY 2008 and FY 2007 Funding Status
Wave 4 for FY 2008 is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, May 20th. Funding in this wave is expected to be about $39 million. The cumulative national FY 2008 funding total is $508 million. No Internal Connections requests are being funded yet for this year.
Wave 51 for FY 2007 is scheduled to be released on Monday, May 19th. Funding in this wave is estimated to be about $194 thousand. The cumulative national FY 2007 funding total is $2.32 billion. The final Internal Connections funding threshold for this year is 81%.
Confidentiality of Student Eligibility Data
Applicant reports of various requests by auditors for documentation of free and reduced-price lunch application data have raised concerns that some of these requests may violate the confidentiality provisions of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, as amended.
The current NSLP confidentiality rules were adopted last year under the auspices of the Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (see Federal Register 3/12/07). The general rule is:
Within certain limitations, children's free and reduced price meal or free milk eligibility information may be disclosed, without parental/guardian consent, to persons directly connected to certain education programs, health programs, means-tested nutrition programs, the Comptroller General of the United States, and some law enforcement officials. Additionally, officials also may disclose children's free and reduced price meal or free milk eligibility information to persons directly connected with State Medicaid (Medicaid) and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) when parents/guardians do not decline to have their information disclosed.
Starting with the disclaimer that we are not USDA regulatory attorneys, we note that there are at least two key definitional issues embodied in this general rule that are important from an E-rate perspective.
The first issue is the strict definition of "eligibility information." Based on other sections of the rules, which permit disclosure of children's names and eligibility "status," the term "information" appears to refer to the detailed application data on family size and income level. Additionally, the regulations "do not address the disclosure of aggregate information." E-rate application requests for aggregate student eligibility data to determine discount rates, therefore, are generally not problematic.
The second definitional issue relates to the confidentiality exemption for "certain education programs," which apparently does not include the E-rate program. Instead, this provision refers to joint memoranda issued in 2002 and 2003 by the Department of Education and the Department of Agriculture regarding the use of student eligibility data in implementing provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act.
Because some auditors seem to be asking for detailed documentation going well beyond allowable "status" or "aggregate" information, certain regional USDA officials have provided the following directive to school districts in their areas:
Our National Office has had inquiries from Mountain Plains and several of the other FNS Regions about disclosing individual children's eligibility status and sharing applications with auditors conducting reviews of local school districts on behalf of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). The FCC, through USAC, administers the E-Rate program. In turn, USAC has contracted with private firms to actually conduct the audits.
USAC provides discounts to schools to obtain affordable telecommunication and Internet access; the discount rates are based on the percentage of children who are approved for free and reduced price school meals. To support the discount rate given to schools to obtain services, auditors are requesting documentation of the discount calculation. Specifically, auditors have asked for a list of eligible students for selected schools along with the applications for those students.
Based on the limited information we now have, we cannot determine if the requested information is releasable under section 9(b)(6) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act. Our National Office is trying to contact FCC's OIG to discuss this issue. However, until we can make this determination, local educational agencies cannot release individual children's individual eligibility status or their applications to these auditors.
Although we are reluctant to suggest that any audited applicant refuse to provide detailed NSLP data upon request, we do recommend discussing this directive with senior auditing personnel before complying.
More generally, we note that there are at least two gray areas in E-rate with respect to the confidentiality of family income data, namely:
- Although there are no rules against the release of aggregate data, the USDA warns that such data should be reviewed carefully to ensure that the identities of children or families are masked and "cannot be identified by the combining of information or by deduction." There is concern with small or very high discount schools that it may be possible to deduce the eligibility of specific individuals. As a result, at least one state education department has indicated that aggregate data should not be released by schools with less than 10 students or with more than 99% eligibility — even to PIA reviewers.
- For applicants using the survey method to calculate discounts, the E-rate rules clearly state that actual NSLP application forms cannot be used for this purpose. Technically, therefore, survey information is not covered by USDA's confidentiality rules. Nevertheless, since the collected survey information is equivalent, we believe that that the same spirit of confidentiality should apply. In particular, applicants submitting sample surveys to PIA should be careful to black out identifying family information (as permitted under PIA procedures).
E-Rate Updates and Reminders
Applicants with technology plans expiring June 30, 2008, are reminded that they have less than two months left to have new or updated plans approved by Certified Tech Plan Approver technology plan approvers. Recognize that these reviewers may receiving a number of late submissions and may not be able to approve all by July 1st - particularly if initially submitted plans need to be revised. No FY 2008 discounts will be provided for services received before technology plans are approved for the year. For a list of certified approvers by state, see CIPA Locator.
Remember also that applicants funded in early FY 2008 waves cannot file Form 486s until they have approved technology plans covering the entirety of the 2008-2009 funding year.
Beginning May 21st, USAC will start mailing Form 486 Notification Letters to applicants (and their associated service providers) who have already been funded for FY 2008 and who have filed early Form 486s.
Earlier this month, the SLD conducted two one-day training sessions for service providers. The slides for this training include the following presentations:
- Beginners Session
- What to Do and How to Do It
- Eligible Services — What and Why?
- What Do I Do to Invoice USAC?
- Welcome to the 21st Century (Communicating with USAC Electronically)
- Top 10 Tips for Service Providers
Although the training was oriented towards vendors, much of the material - particularly the discussions of eligible services and procurement rules - may of be of interest to applicants as well. Copies of the slides are available at 2008 SP Training.
The SLD's News Brief for May 16th provides a useful review of the compliance requirements for the Children's Internet Protection Act ("CIPA").
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