The federal eRate program helps schools and libraries obtain discounted telecommunications services and internet access.

Schools and libraries can begin requesting their share of $2.3 billion in telecommunications discounts through the federal eRate program on Dec. 12, and they’ll have until March 14 to apply for 2013 funding.

The Schools and Libraries Division of the Universal Service Administrative Co. (USAC), the agency that administers the eRate, has announced the dates of the filing window for the 2013 program year.

The filing window for FCC Form 471 will open at noon EST on Dec. 12, 2012, and close at 11:59 p.m. EST on March 14, 2013. The window will be open for 93 days.

The eRate gives out $2.3 billion in telecommunications discounts each year to eligible schools and libraries. All nonprofit schools, including private schools, are eligible as long as their endowment doesn’t exceed $50 million. The funding year runs from July 1 to June 30 of every fiscal year.

eRate applicants are eligible for discounts ranging from 20 to 90 percent of the cost of their telecommunications services and internet access. How much of a discount you get depends on the percentage of your students who are eligible for the National School Lunch Program and whether your school is considered urban or rural according to federal Metropolitan Statistical Information data—and there’s a matrix on USAC’s website to help you calculate your discount based on this information.

There are two types of services that are eligible for eRate discounts. Priority One services include telecommunications services and monthly internet access charges, and Priority Two services include what USAC calls “internal connections,” which are the wiring, routers, switches, file servers, and other equipment needed to bring internet access into classrooms—and also the cost of basic maintenance on these internal connections. Funds are committed for all approved Priority One requests first, and then whatever money is left over goes toward Priority Two requests, starting with requests from applicants who qualify for 90-percent discounts and working down the discount scale until all the money has been committed.

For more eRate advice, see Strategies for eRate Success.

The first step in applying is to file a Form 470 for all services that aren’t already under contract for the 2013 program year. This tells service providers which technologies you plan to purchase, so they can submit bids. Even monthly services like telephone and internet access require a new Form 470, unless you’ve signed a multiyear contract for these services.

Your Form 470 must be posted to USAC’s website for at least 28 days before you can sign new contracts and then apply for eRate discounts. This gives service providers a chance to review requests and submit bids, and it gives schools a chance to evaluate bids and choose a provider. Feb. 14, 2013, is the last day applicants can file a Form 470 on USAC’s website, meet this 28-day posting requirement, and submit a Form 471 application before the filing window closes.

Those just beginning the eRate application process should click here to learn more about the various forms.

USAC encourages applicants to file early, because that lets applicants:

Here’s what this year’s eRate training sessions focused on.

The $2.3 billion-a-year eRate program, which helps schools and libraries obtain discounted telecommunications services and internet access, is often confusing for applicants. The program’s different forms, filing windows, and application rules can befuddle even the most experienced eRate applicant at times.

Each fall, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC)—the agency that administers the program—holds a number of training sessions designed to help applicants wade through the rules and acronyms that accompany the process. Here’s what this year’s training sessions focused on.

eRate basics

Schools and school districts are eligible for eRate funding, as are libraries and library systems. Consortia—groups of eligible entities that band together—also are eligible.

eRate discounts amount to between 20 percent and 90 percent of eligible costs. Discount levels are determined by the percentage of students who qualify for the National School Lunch Program in the school, or, in a library’s case, in the school district in which the library is located. Discounts also are determined by urban or rural status.

eRate funds are allocated according to rules of priority, with first priority given to requests for telecommunications services and internet access. The remaining available funds are allocated to requests for the wiring, routers, switches, servers, and other “internal connections” needed to bring internet access into classrooms, and basic maintenance of these internal connections.

Applicants must develop technology plans as part of the eRate application process. Technology plans have to identify goals and strategies for using technology to improve education or library services, a needs assessment, staff training, and an evaluation plan.

Common eRate myths

This year’s eRate training included a focus on common myths and misconceptions that surround the federal program. Here are a handful of those myths.

Myth No. 1: eRate applicants must draft technology plans each funding year before filing FCC Form 470 for all services requested.

Facts: Technology plans no longer are required for Priority 1 services (telecommunications services and internet access), but they still are required for Priority 2 services (internal connections). Technology plans can be approved for more than one year, so an applicant’s services still might be covered by its approved plan. If Priority 2 services are included in a current technology plan, and that plan covers at least part of the upcoming funding year, a new technology plan draft isn’t necessary before posting an FCC Form 470.

Many of the comments expressed a deep gratitude for the eRate, and overall, they indicated a desire for a simplified, more predictable program that can help them provide better internet connectivity.

In what could be described as a testament to the success of the eRate program, applicants requested the largest amount in the past decade for Funding Year 2012: more than $5.1 billion. While demand for eligible services is at a 10-year high, it is nearly double the available funding ($2.3 billion).

Sensing that demand for eRate funding would continue to outpace available funding nearly 2 to 1, last spring Funds For Learning set out to gather the perceptions, predictions, and opinions of eRate applicants through a nationwide survey. Over the course of two months, Funds For Learning received hundreds of responses from applicants, gathering insight on how applicants are using the program.

In total, 636 applicants responded to the survey, which represents about 3 percent of total applicants in the country. Of these respondents, 434 identified the school or district they represented, allowing for additional statistical comparisons of their response with eRate funding request data.

The online survey consisted of 10 questions designed to address the following themes: the importance of the eRate program; how funding predictability, speed, amount, and flexibility should be ranked; a summary of applicants’ current technology use and plans for the future; ideas for how the eRate should be changed in future funding years; and, in the face of rising demand, which currently funded services are considered most important. Here are excerpts from the full survey analysis.

Significance of the eRate

One survey question asked applicants to respond to a series of eight “agree or disagree” statements regarding the eRate’s importance, historical success, and future growth.

Fast facts

• Approximately 90 percent of respondents said the eRate is critical to their success.

• Only about 40 percent of applicants believe their current level of internet access is adequate for their needs.

• Only one-third of respondents believe the eRate is adequately funded.

There seems to be consensus that schools depend on eRate funding for telecommunications service and internet access in their classrooms, and that more eRate funding is needed. There is almost complete agreement that the eRate is critical to schools, and nearly all respondents believe that eTextbooks and “bring your own device” technology will increase future demand for eRate-eligible services.

SETDA recommends that schools provide 100 Mbps per 1,000 students/staff by the 2014-15 school year, and provide 1 Gbps per 1,000 students/staff by the 2017-18 school year.

School districts should provide a minimum of 100 megabits per second (Mbps) of bandwidth for every 1,000 students and staff members within the next two years, and federal lawmakers should provide more funding to help make this happen, according to a report released May 21 by the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA).

The report, “The Broadband Imperative: Recommendations to Address K-12 Education Infrastructure Needs,” explains how the ongoing shift to technology-rich learning has sparked rapid growth in the nation’s educational broadband needs.

Schools are undergoing a transformation from print-based to digital sources, and that shift “changes technology from being supplemental enrichment to something we rely on,” said Douglas Levin, executive director of SETDA at a report release and briefing in Washington, D.C.

To prepare students for college and careers, schools increasingly use internet-based tools for activities such as multimedia research and online testing. At a school with a technology-rich learning environment, students might use laptops in class to generate audio podcasts, work in e-textbooks, and collaborate with other students through wikis or video conferencing.

Young children entering school nowadays are accustomed to digital learning devices and expect that level of technology in schools, said Christine Fox, director of educational leadership and research at SEDTA.

“At one of our elementary schools, they Skype with their sister school in Taiwan. That’s what [the students] expect. They don’t realize how great the distance is between our schools. They realize how small the world is because of our technology,” said Andrew Zuckerman, director of instructional services for Lawrence Township, N.J., Public Schools.

Eventually, SETDA hopes to see broadband become ubiquitous in schools. With sufficient bandwidth, “technology then is no longer ‘nice to have,’ or ‘just for some,’ but an integral part of a school’s ecosystem. It’s systemic,” Fox said. “If, at the last minute, a teacher wants to participate in a conference across the country, the teacher with robust bandwidth access doesn’t have to ask, ‘Do we have bandwidth for that?’ They just do it.”

Recent research shows, however, that educational broadband needs are not currently being met. The report cites a 2010 survey by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which found that nearly 80 percent of responding schools reported their broadband connections to be inadequate for their needs.

To help policy makers and school leaders better implement broadband access into educational infrastructure, the new SETDA report makes four main recommendations:

The FCC says it will teach companies about the preferential pricing rule.

After 15 years of neglect, federal regulators are finally planning to tell phone companies selling services to schools and libraries how to comply with a rule requiring them to charge bargain prices.

Last week, ProPublica revealed that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had failed to provide guidance for the low pricing rule case since the 1997 launch of the school program, called eRate. Lawsuits and other legal actions in four states turned up evidence that AT&T and Verizon charged local school districts much higher rates than it gave to similar customers or more than what the program allowed.

The preferential pricing rule, called lowest corresponding price, was designed to give schools a leg up in the complicated world of voice and data pricing, and to make sure school children had access to the Internet. But despite evidence of inflated pricing, the FCC never brought an enforcement case against a service provider for violating the rule.

While the main victims of this failure are the nation’s schoolchildren who receive suboptimal broadband access, there’s another set of victims: the vast majority of people with a cellular or landline phone contract. That’s because the program provides a subsidy to schools to help them pay for the telecom services. Telephone consumers pay for this subsidy, usually through a “Universal Service Fund” charge on individual phone bills. The subsidy fund is capped at about $2.25 billion a year.

An online petition asks the FCC to increase the availability of eRate funds.

The federal eRate program, which helps schools and libraries connect to the internet, should receive more funding so that more schools and libraries can serve not only students, but community members as well, eRate compliance firm Funds For Learning wrote in a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

In an open letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, John Harrington, CEO of Funds For Learning, requests that the commission increase the available funding in the eRate program.

In the letter, Harrington explains that schools and libraries, especially those in the nation’s poorer communities, rely on the eRate program as “the financial backbone that enables them to keep their sophisticated and expensive telecommunications networks up and running.”

“The eRate program has been hugely successful,” said Harrington. “However, with demand outpacing the available funding, it is time to consider how much more funding and regulatory support the commission should allocate to the eRate program, as the increase in funding, or lack thereof, will determine whether any schools or libraries get left behind.”

“Classrooms across the nation are benefiting from technologies supported by eRate funds,” said Cathy Cruzan, president of Funds For Learning. “We made this letter available for public support because the eRate program not only affects schools and libraries, but everyone in the community. Education is crucial to improving students and their communities and when they benefit, the nation benefits.”

Since the program began in 1998, demand for eRate funds has increased by 108 percent, from $2.36 billion in 1998 to $4.65 billion in 2011. However, despite the increase in demand, the available funding has remained nearly the same. From 1998 to 2009, the available eRate funds were capped at $2.25 billion per year. The cap was indexed to inflation starting in 2010, resulting in $2.27 and $2.29 billion in available funds for 2010 and 2011, respectively.

“What was barely adequate funding 14 years ago is not nearly sufficient now, and tomorrow it will merely be a drop in the bucket,” said Harrington. “That is why the eRate program desperately needs an infusion of new funds today.”

According to Harrington, the timing for the request could not be better. He explained that the newly FCC-designed Connect America Fund “needs a fully funded eRate program to succeed.”

School personnel can’t accept single gifts (including meals) worth more than $20, and they can’t accept more than $50 in total gifts per year from the same service provider, according to new eRate rules.

In its Sixth Report and Order, issued in September 2010, the Federal Communications Commission codified regulations regarding gifts from eRate service providers to align with the gift rules applicable to federal agencies. Several months later, eRate stakeholders are still trying to make sense of the new rules.

Applicants are now subject to federal law regarding gifts from vendors, and any breach of this regulation is considered a competitive-bidding violation. Since the addition of the gifting rules, eRate applicants and service providers have struggled with the ambiguity of the rules and the numerous hypothetical situations they presumed they would face.

What’s more, confusion about the new eRate gift rules hasn’t stopped with applicants and service providers. The Universal Service Administrative Co. (USAC), the administrative body over the eRate program, has twice sought clarification from the FCC regarding application of the rules.

With compliance in the competitive-bidding process being paramount for eRate stakeholders, it is important for both applicants and service providers to understand the past, present, and future of the gifting rules and how they affect eRate compliance.

Before the Sixth Order, the FCC had made it clear that improper vendor gifts that could unfairly influence the competitive-bidding process were a violation of the fair and open eRate bidding process. Before, however, applicants simply had to certify on their Form 471 application that they had not received anything of value or the promise of anything of value, other than services and equipment requested on the application.

With the Sixth Order and subsequent codification of the gifting regulations, applicants not only must certify on their Form 471, but also must follow federal and/or state gift rules, whichever are stricter. From the FCC’s Sixth Report and Order:

“…[F]ederal rules prohibit a federal employee from directly or indirectly soliciting or accepting a gift (i.e., anything of value) from someone who does business with his or her agency or accepting a gift given as a result of the employee’s official position. The federal rules do, however, permit two categories of circumscribed de minimis gifts: (1) modest refreshments that are not offered as part of a meal (e.g., coffee and donuts provided at a meeting) and items with little intrinsic value intended solely for presentation (e.g., certificates and plaques); and (2) items that are worth $20 or less (e.g., pencils, pens, hats, t-shirts, and other items worth less than $20, including meals), as long as those items do not exceed $50 per employee from any one source per calendar year.”

In what appeared to be a proactive move, the Sixth Order also addressed the looming question of charitable donations. It stated that new gift rules were not intended to discourage companies from making “charitable donations to eRate-eligible entities in the support of schools—including, for example, literacy programs, scholarships, and capital improvements—as long as such contributions are not directly or indirectly related to eRate procurement activities or decisions.”

At face value, the verbiage appears somewhat straightforward. Applicants cannot accept any gift, with the exception of certain de minimis gifts, and service providers should not worry about charitable donations. But shortly after the release of the Sixth Order, questions began to pour in to USAC from applicants and service providers, ranging from how to define “charitable donations” to how should a Christmas fruit basket be split to ensure that no one person takes more than $20 worth of produce.

For funding year 2012, there will be at least $2.29 billion available for distribution.

With a new eRate application season about to dawn for schools and libraries, here are five tips that can help ensure success in getting your fair share of nearly $2.3 billion in telecommunications discounts.

1. Always check the Eligible Services List (ESL) before buying.

“One thing that we always encourage applicants to do is to take a look at the Eligible Services List, which is the document that governs product or service eligibility,” said Brian Stephens, senior technology and regulatory analyst for eRate consulting firm Funds for Learning.

Applicants often purchase a new product or service that is eRate eligible but then don’t apply for discounts on this product or service—perhaps because they weren’t aware of its eligibility, Stephens said. By evaluating all new purchases for eRate eligibility, schools and libraries might save themselves money.

The Universal Service Administrative Co. (USAC), the agency that administers the eRate, issues a revised ESL before the filing window opens for each new funding year. The new ESL for funding year 2012 is now available for downloading from USAC’s web site.

2. Apply regardless of your discount level.

Some applicants who fall below the 80-percent discount threshold—the typical cut-off for Priority Two discounts on internal connections—might think: Why bother submitting an application? Yet, earlier this year, the Federal Communications Commission said it would tap into unspent monies to fund all Priority Two requests for the 2010 program year. The FCC is rolling over an additional $850 million in unspent funding for use in the 2011 program year as well.

“That’s actually the first year of the program, since [its debut in] 1999, when all of the Priority Two funding requests were satisfied,” Stephens said, noting that in funding year 2009, funding for Priority Two requests extended only to the 77-percent discount level.

Even if your school district doesn’t qualify for a high discount percentage on Priority Two services, apply anyway, Stephens recommended. Every year, there is some funding that is committed, but never used for one reason or another. After the deadlines pass, that money can be rolled forward for redistribution.