E-rate to Provide Relief for Katrina-Impacted School and Libraries
~ Including Schools Taking-in Katrina Students ~
Message posted September 19, 2005
On Thursday, the FCC announced a package of services and funding to help the Katrina-affected region and included in that package is $132 million in support to schools and libraries. The E-rate program will fund the school and library initiative, although it is not known at this time whether the actual funding will come from roll-over funds (of which there is $365+ million available) or whether it will come from Year 8 Priority 2 funding (or both).
The Commission proposes to open a special filing window to allow schools and libraries in the affected area to re-submit their requests for E-rate funds this year, all at the highest discount available (presumably mostly for damaged schools as the schools that were destroyed will take 1-2 years to rebuild). This high priority also will continue for Year 9 (2006-2007) for affected entities.
* The FCC also will allow schools and libraries handling increased student and patron populations caused by the influx of evacuees to amend their applications for E-rate support for this year. We know of many districts in PA that have received such students and therefore will be eligible to benefit from this portion of the FCC's package.
As of now, there are no additional details to the Commission's plan. We believe that the governor's from the affected states are submitting a detailed proposal to the Commission this week that will outline what they would like from the E-rate fund for their affected schools and libraries, so the amount of funding available for the special window could increase.
In terms of what this means for other E-rate applicants, it's still too early to know. Year 8 priority 2 funding was delayed even before the hurricane hit, so we can only imagine that this new filing window will only further delay the release of those funds for Year 8. In terms of priority 1 funding, it's still too early to speculate. As soon as any details of the impact of the Katrina window are known, I'll let you know. But for now, PA E-rate applicants should be focused on 5 things:
1) If your Year 8 application hasn't been approved, you should wait for your call from PIA and provide answers on a timely basis.
2) If your Year 8 application has been approved, file your 486 ASAP if you haven't done so already.
3) File your Year 7 BEARs (Form 472) to the SLD for reimbursements for all bills that aren't being discounted -- deadline is October 28!
4) File your Year 9 Form 470's for submission this fall (or submit NOW if those services are being included on your eFund grant).
5) Register for Year 9 E-rate Training! http://www.e-ratepa.org/training_outreach.htm
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me at jtschell@comcast.net.
-- Julie
Julie Tritt Schell
jtschell@comcast.net
(717) 730.7133 (voice)
(717) 730.9060 (fax)
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