News of the Week

Funding Status

The FY 2012 Form 471 application filing window is now closed.  USAC's preliminary estimate of FY 2012 demand should be released by mid-April.  Although the first funding wave last year was not released until June, following the FCC's delayed approval of USAC's PIA review procedures, we hope to see USAC being able to issue Wave 1 for FY 2012 by mid-May this year.

Wave 40 for FY 2011 will be released on Tuesday, March 27th.  Cumulative funding for FY 2011 is $1.97 billion.  Priority 2 funding for FY 2011 is currently being provided only at the 90% level and is being denied at 79% and below.

Wave 91 for FY 2010 will be released on Wednesday, March 28th.  Cumulative funding for FY 2010 is $3.03 billion.  Priority 2 funding is being provided at all discount levels.

FY 2012 Form 471 Application Window Closed – Next Steps I

The Form 471 application window for FY 2012 closed on Tuesday, March 20, 2012.  Applications completed online or postmarked after this date will be treated as being received outside the filing window and will not likely be funded without an FCC waiver.

Applicants who successfully submitted their Form 471 applications by the March 20th deadline should do the following:

• If you mailed your application, certification, and/or attachments by express mail service, track the shipment online and make a copy of the successful delivery notification.  If you used the Postal Service's return receipt service, you should retain a copy of the receipt when it's returned.
• Periodically check the status of your application on the SLD's Web site (see Application Status).  At this stage in the application process, the status indicator might read:

Incomplete:  If the application was done online, "Incomplete" means that the application process was abandoned before submission; this would not be a valid application.  If the application was mailed, "Incomplete" means that the application has been received, but that only the basic Block 1 information has been data entered by the SLD.  Mailed applications that were postmarked in time will be upgraded in status as soon as data entry is complete.

Complete:  The application was successfully submitted online, but has not yet been certified (or the mailed-in certification has not yet been data entered).

Certified – In Window:  This status indicator covers the following three situations for applications that were completed within the deadline: (a) the application was submitted and electronically certified online; (b) the application was submitted online and the mailed certification form has been received and recorded by the SLD; or (c) a properly certified application was mailed to the SLD and has been fully data entered.

Certified – Out of Window:  The completed application was not fully submitted on time.  Usually this means that the paper application, or the signed certification page of an online application, was postmarked after March 20th.  As long as the application itself was submitted on time, USAC will provide additional, albeit limited, time to submit the certification (see below).

Initial Review:  The application has already been entered into the review process.  Applicants may begin receiving questions on these applications.

• FCC rules require that Item 21 attachments be filed within the window.  As it does with missing certifications, USAC is expected to provide some limited time to submit missing Item 21 attachments.  Since this will be the second year of the process, we also expect USAC to be able to more accurately determine which applications are missing attachments.  Note that, in any case, USAC cannot review an application without the attachments.  Since mailed attachments are sent to Kansas, but PIA review is done in New Jersey, applicants may get requests from PIA for another copy of their attachments.  Whenever possible, applicants should comply.
• Applicants should pay particular attention to the Form 471 Receipt Acknowledgment Letters ("RALs") that are mailed to applicants who have submitted Form 471s.  The RALs are formatted to permit applicants to easily correct a number of ministerial and clerical ("M&C") errors that may have been made in their initial filings.  Importantly, allowable corrections include adjustments — even increases — in discount rates and funding requests.

E-Rate Updates and Reminders                       

Last Week's FCC Appeal Decisions:

The FCC released a decision (DA 12-413) last week approving appeals for eight applicants.  All of the appeals dealt with product/service cost-effectiveness problems.  Three of the applicants had been denied during application review for such factors as "excessive" costs per student or per drop (or, in one case, for equipment cost which was "two times greater than prices available from commercial vendors").  The other five appeals involved COMADs seeking the return of funds (in two cases for well over $1 million) for products/services originally approved, but subsequently deemed cost-ineffective after funds had been disbursed  (probably as the result of audits).  Unfortunately, as has been the case with most recent FCC decisions, the rationale for the appeal approvals has been simply "consistent with precedent" — thus providing no new guidance on the definition of cost-effectiveness.

In other E-rate actions, the FCC dismissed a petition for reconsideration which had been filed after the 30-day deadline (DA 12-433), and issued a Suspension and Initiation of Debarment Proceeding (DA 12-452) against Gloria Harper who had pled guilty last summer of "orchestrating multiple fraudulent schemes."

CIPA and the Dharun Ravi Prosecution:

Earlier this month, in a case that could have profound CIPA implications, a New Jersey jury found Dharun Ravi guilty of invasion of privacy, bias and intimidation, and evidence tampering.  Mr. Ravi, a Rutgers student born in India, faces a prison sentence of up to 10 years and/or deportation.  The case, which includes several elements of cyberbullying, involved a Webcam that Mr. Ravi had set up to spy on his possibly gay roommate, and tweets to friends to alert them to the video feeds.  Shortly thereafter, the distraught roommate committed suicide.

With CIPA now requiring student education on proper online behavior and on cyberbullying, the outcome of Mr. Ravi's trial may provide the basis for a cautionary case study.  In light of the severity of the potential sentence, the following warnings should be noted:

Marc Poirier of Seton Hall Law School, who writes on gender and sexuality law, said hate crimes are typically crimes of physical violence or physical threats, and elevating what Ravi did to a hate crime radically shifts what's considered fair game for prosecutors to pursue.
"I tried using the legal databases to find any other case with facts similar to this, which had resulted in a hate crime or bias intimidation conviction, and there isn't one that I can find," Poirier said.
Instead, he explained, almost all hate crime prosecutions in the U.S. have involved violent or persistent acts, such as arson, cross-burning or physical attacks. He finds the expansion of hate crimes to single instances of cyberbullying troubling.
"If we have a system that criminalizes every act that causes deep fear in a targeted group, there is no way of keeping it within bounds," Poirier said.

1. Legal experts noted that the verdict reflects a growing awareness of the potential severity of online harassment.  New Jersey Public Radio reported:
2. Mr. Ravi's attorney had argued that his client, a college freshman only one year out of high school, was an immature student who regrettably did something that became tragic, but did not deserve to be punished criminally.  As the jury apparently found, however, "immaturity is not a defense to criminal charges."

Schools and Libraries News Brief Dated March 23 – Next Steps II

Last week's SLD News Brief for March 23, 2012, reviews additional next steps that applicants may need to complete to finalize their FY 2012 applications and be ready for PIA review, including:

1. If not already completed, certify your Form 471.  Within the next few weeks, USAC will send reminder letters to applicants with uncertified Form 471s giving them 20 days to do so, but missing certifications should be submitted as soon as possible.
2. If not already done, submit your Item 21 attachments.  Again, and most likely on the same schedule, including the same deadline, USAC will be sending reminder letters to applicants with missing attachments.
3. If not already completed, certify any Form 470 cited in your Form 471.
4. Carefully review your Form 471 Receipt Acknowledgment Letter ("RAL"), and submit any allowable corrections if necessary.
5. Organize and store your FY 2012 application documents.
6. If applying for Priority 2 services, check the status of your technology plan.
7. Monitor your preferred mode of contact and prepare for PIA review.