In This Week's Issue
»	FY 2008 and FY 2007 Funding Status
»	E-Rate Updates and Reminders
»	Schools and Libraries News Briefs for August 22nd

E-Rate Central News for the Week
August 25, 2008

The E-Rate Central News for the Week, prepared for New York applicants by E-Rate Central, is sponsored by the New York State Education Department. Additional E-rate resources are on the E-Rate Central Web site and on the New York State E-rate site. We can be contacted by phone (516-832-2887), fax (516-832-2877), or e-mail.

FY 2008 and FY 2007 Funding Status
Wave 20 for FY 2008 is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, August 26th. Funding in this wave is expected to be $29.8 million. Cumulative national FY 2008 funding is now $1.14 billion. Priority 2 requests are still being funded at the 90% discount level, and denied at 79% and below.

Wave 61 for FY 2007 is expected to be released on Wednesday, August 27th. Funding in this wave will be $5.6 million. Total FY 2007 funding is currently $2.46 billion.

E-Rate Updates and Reminders

Fall E-Rate Training:

Registration for the SLD's fall training sessions in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC, are on a waiting list basis. The three other regional training sessions are in Seattle, Denver, and Newark (see 2008 Training Schedule). Those who have already registered should remember that there are cutoff dates for reserving hotel rooms at USAC's negotiated rates. The cutoff date for Washington has already past; rooms are still available, but at a higher rate.

As in past years, E-Rate Central will be conducting half-day NYSED-sponsored E-rate workshops throughout New York State. The planned schedule is currently as follows (details available next month):

Eligible Services List ("ESL") for FY 2009:

Approximately ten reply comments on the draft Eligible Services List for FY 2009 were submitted as of Thursday's August 21st deadline. As with the initial comments submitted the preceding week, the greatest concern was shown in response to the SLD's proposals to make Video on Demand servers categorically ineligible and to more explicitly exclude Intranet Web hosting. A copy of the draft ESL, which is expected to be finalized by the FCC by the end of October, is available at FY 2009 ESL Draft.

The FCC also has a Notice of Public Rulemaking ("NPRM") pending, asking for comments on broader changes to the ESL (see FY 2009 ESL NPRM). The key issues involved in this proceeding are as follows:

• Interconnected VoIP Service
• Filtering Software
• Basic Telephone Service
• Dark Fiber
• Text Messaging
• Firewall
• Anti-Virus/Anti-Spam Software
• Scheduling Services
• Telephone Broadcast Messaging
• Wireless Internet Access Applications

For a more detailed discussion of these issues, see our earlier newsletter (August 4, 2008). Initial comments on this NPRM are due by September 18th; reply comments are due by October 3rd.

Schools and Libraries News Brief for August 22nd
The SLD's News Brief for August 22nd provides a number of tips for filing BEAR forms (Form 472). For applicants seeking discount reimbursements for FY 2007 recurring services, the BEAR invoicing deadline is October 28, 2008.

The following is a brief summary of the tips provided (please read the full News Brief for details), together with our comments:

1. Collect your documentation — specifically bills for services received and for which payment has already been made. We like to prepare a spreadsheet for each recurring service FRN showing account numbers and total payments by month, subtracting any ineligible charges (e.g., late payment fees), and totaling the eligible service charges for the BEAR reimbursement.
2. If you can, file BEAR Forms online. The online BEAR system is easy, helps avoid BEAR preparation errors, and generally speeds payment authorization. But mail-in BEARs may have to be used if:
   1. You don't have an SLD-supplied password and PIN;
   2. You experience online system errors; and/or
   3. Your service provider is not set up to acknowledge BEARs online (see point #5 below).
3. Check your BEAR Form for errors before you submit it. Common errors, typically caught when using the online filing system, include:
   1. Filing a BEAR before an associated Form 486 has been filed and accepted;
   2. Reporting dates in Columns 12 and 13 (the online properly accepts only one date);
   3. Using the same service start date as used on an earlier BEAR for that FRN (e.g., if filing one BEAR for the first half of the year, and another for the second half, the start date on the second should be January 1st, not July 1st);
   4. Mismatching Form 471 numbers, FRNs, and/or service providers; and/or
   5. Using the wrong discount rate.
4. Verify that your service provider has submitted a Service Provider Annual Certification ("SPAC") Form for that funding year. This can be verified by checking the funding year listing using the SLD's vendor database (see SPIN Contact Search).
5. Make sure your service provider acknowledges and approves your BEAR. If filing online, the BEAR's status can be checked using the same system. If filing on paper, you will need to fax the BEAR to the service provider, and wait for the signed Block 4 to be signed and returned.
6. Submit your BEAR Form in plenty of time for your service provider to review it. The deadline for submitting a BEAR to the SLD for recurring FY 2007 services is October 28th, but you must allow time for vendor acknowledgment. If timing is a problem, you will have to file an Invoice Deadline Extension Request (which we will cover as the deadline approaches).