[Erate] Important update on Technology Planning!

[Carson, Sabrina]

The Oregon Department of Education has been working hard to improve the way we collect and review technology plans for Continuous Improvement Plans, e-Rate, and EdTech Title IID. This message is intended to update the districts on how and when to submit your plan for funding year 2009-2010. As we work to implement an electronic method for submission for 2010-2011, we have set up a temporary process and timeline for this year so that we can make it as smooth of a transition as possible. These processes primarily apply to e-Rate as the timeline is earlier than the other programs. Compliance with these deadlines will also mean that your plan will be ready for review for other programs. They are outlined below.


Step 1 (Now through January 15th 2009): Create a draft of your plan. This could mean writing a new plan, or updating your existing plan to align to the new Oregon Educational Technology Standards and reflect projects or changes for the next funding year.



Step 2 (Now through January 15th 2009): Submit a copy of your plan to ode.techplans at state.or.us<mailto:ode.techplans at state.or.us>. This will allow ODE to archive the plan and make it available to the appropriate staff for review.



Step 3 (January 15th through March 15th 2009): ODE staff will review plans for e-Rate compliance. Any district whose plan requires revision will be contacted accordingly and given any assistance that they need to meet the criteria.



Step 4 (March 15th through June 15th 2009): ODE will send out two letters;  an e-Rate approval letter and a separate Ed Tech approval letter to all districts with approved plans.
Many of you have had questions about the e-Rate requirement that a technology plan must be written before the filing of the form 470. First, to clarify, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) considers a technology plan "written" when its draft form addresses each of the 5 required criteria. This DOES NOT mean that the plan has to be approved before the 470 filing and it DOES NOT mean that the plan cannot be revised and fine tuned after submission. While the plan must be as accurate as possible at the time, corrections and clarifications are allowed after the creation (written) date. Here are some suggestions for how you can make sure you are in compliance with this requirement.


 1.  Make sure that your draft addresses each of the 5 e-Rate criteria (and the Ed Tech criteria) in a meaningful way. Be as accurate as possible with the timelines, speeds, and costs of your services. Plan professional development activities as best you can around what you have.
 2.  Make sure that your plan is labeled with the creation date as well as the effective dates (the date range to which your plan applies). This helps USAC determine the creation date and is a form of documentation.
 3.  Save your plan to another location after you create it. This helps ensure that you have the original copy in a safe place and will also ensure that the creation date and modification dates are preserved.
More tools and information will be provided to you during the October 21st annual e-Rate training video conference. There will also be a statewide Technology Plan Workshop delivered via videoconference in early to mid November. More details about the workshop will be released soon. It is our goal to make this process as simple and efficient as possible. Please feel free to contact the appropriate person for questions or concerns about program compliance.

e-Rate:
Baron Rodriguez baron.rodriguez at state.or.us<mailto:baron.rodriguez at state.or.us>
503-947-5683
Sabrina Carson Sabrina.carson at wesd.org<mailto:Sabrina.carson at wesd.org>
503-540-4495

EdTech Title IID:
Carla Wade Carla.wade at state.or.us<mailto:Carla.wade at state.or.us>
503-947-5631


Sabrina Carson
e-Rate and Procurement Customer Support
Willamette Education Service District
2611 Pringle Rd SE
Salem, OR 97302
P: 503.540.4495
F: 503.540.2962


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