[Erate] E-Rate Central News of the Week for February 23, 2009

[Carson, Sabrina]

See the attached newsletter for articles on:


 *   FY 2007 – FY 2009 Funding Status.  PIA began contacting applicants regarding their FY 2009 applications last week.  Wave 40 for FY 2008 is being delayed until the first week in March so as to extend the last date to receive non-recurring services for an additional year.  One large FY 2007 funding award will be released next week.
 *   E-Rate Evolution:  February 12th was the important deadline date for FY 2009 applications, but it was also Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday. This article summarizes the key evolutionary developments of the E-rate program
 *   E-Rate Updates and Reminders.  The SLD suggests that applicants needing to file FCC waivers of the FY 2009 application deadline wait until they receive USAC’s out-of-the-window notifications.  The DOJ announced an $8.2 million settlement with a subsidiary of AT&T for alleged E-rate violations.


 *   Schools and Libraries News Brief Dated February 20th.  The SLD’s most recent News Brief provides guidance on the preparation and submission of Item 21 attachments.

Also, and update on Free and Reduced Lunch numbers:

While some of you may have been able to gather current stats for your schools to use on your form 471, many of you used the previous year’s numbers. While ODE is preparing to release the Free and Reduced Lunch statistics for 08-09, those numbers stand to be drastically different than what your districts may be experiencing now. I suggest, if it is feasible, for those districts that used last year’s numbers to conduct a survey or an application drive in order to get current statistics before PIA review begins. With the drastic changes in unemployment rates, more families need help, and not only can you help identify those families and provide services, but you can possibly increase the support provided to you by the e-Rate program. You can provide the updated numbers to the PIA reviewer so that your discount rate can be recalculated. Here is some information from USAC about acceptable ways that this information can be gathered and calculated:

http://www.universalservice.org/sl/applicants/step05/alternative-discount-mechanisms.aspx

As always, please contact me if you have any questions.

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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