Funding Status
Wave 18 for FY 2011 will be released on Tuesday, October 18th, for $115.8 million. Cumulative funding for FY 2011 will be $1.13 billion. For the first time, the wave includes Priority 2 funding at the 90% level.
Wave 71 for FY 2010 will be released on Wednesday, October 19th, for $10.6 million. Cumulative funding for FY 2010 will be $2.83 billion. Priority 2 funding is being provided at all discount levels.
Wave 95 for FY 2009 will be released on Monday, October 17th, for $229 thousand. Cumulative funding for FY 2009 is $2.87 billion.
CIPA Update
This is the third in a series of articles covering the major topics presented in the SLD's fall applicant training workshops. The SLD's PowerPoint slides on CIPA and the other key topics are available online.
Last August, the FCC released its long-awaited CIPA rule revisions incorporating the E-rate provisions of the Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act enacted in 2008. The most important aspect of the new Order (FCC 11-125) is that Internet Safety Policies — required of all applicants applying for discounts on anything more than telecommunications services — must "…include monitoring the online activities of minors and must provide for educating minors about appropriate online behavior, including interacting with other individuals on social networking websites and in chat rooms and cyberbullying awareness and response." This new Internet Safety Policy requirement becomes effective for FY 2012, the E-rate funding year beginning July 1, 2012.
Other aspects of the Order include the following:
- Applicants who have existing and properly adopted Internet Safety Policies will not be required to hold new public hearings to amend their policies. New applicants adopting an Internet Safety Policy for the first time remain bound by the public notice and forum requirements.
Note: It is important for all applicants to be able to document that their Internet policies were properly adopted. We recommend that applicants with existing policies, but missing the supporting documentation, formally and publicly adopt and document the required policy revisions.
- The Order clarifies that the determination of what matter is considered inappropriate for minors is a local decision to be made by the school board, local educational agency, library, or other authority.
- Applicants must retain Internet Safety Policy documentation — including both the Policy itself and the adoption records — for a period of five years after the end of the funding year that relied on that Policy. Although five years is the standard record retention rule, the FCC was careful to note that this may mean the retention of Policy documentation for far longer than five years. If, for example, a Policy adopted in 2005 was used as the basis for a Form 486 certification for 2011-2012, the documentation must be retained until at least June 30, 2017. Special dispensation on record retention is provided for applicants who had adopted their policies prior to August 2004, the date the FCC initially established the five-year retention rule.
- The Order codifies much of the statutory language of the original Children's Internet Protection Act including definitions of "minor," "obscene," "child pornography," "harmful to minors," "sexual act," "sexual contact," and "technology protection measure…" For CIPA purposes, a "minor" means "any individual who has not attained the age of 17 years."
- Although CIPA requirements mandate filtering school or library computers used to access the Internet, the FCC acknowledged that there was confusion as to CIPA requirements pertaining to the on-site use of portable devices owned by students and library patrons. The FCC indicated that it intended to seek public comment on these issues in a separate proceeding.
Note: In response to participant questions, the SLD acknowledged that there was also confusion as to the applicability of CIPA requirements to portable school- or library-owned Internet devices used off-campus. The SLD indicated that it was "talking to the FCC" about this issue. One possibility would be to include the issue in the same forthcoming public comment proceeding regarding student- and patron-owned devices used on-campus.
Pending clarification, E-Rate Central recommends that Internet Safety Policies include language indicating both of these two situations are covered by the policies' basic acceptable use standards.
In addition to the CIPA information presented in its training slides, the SLD indicated verbally that auditors may check to see that applicants are doing what their policies indicate. Essentially this could create separate applicant-specific sets of self-created "CIPA rules." While such additional "rules" may go beyond the statutory requirements of the Children's Internet Protection Act, and may thereby be unenforceable, it does suggest that applicants carefully review their Internet Safety Policies to make sure that provisions are aligned with actual practices.
E-Rate Updates and Reminders
Update on FY 2012 NSLP Data Requirements:
The SLD's 2011 fall training presentation "Calculating Your Discounts" (to be discussed in a future newsletter), originally included a bullet indicating that "Starting in FY2012, applicants must use NSLP data as of a date that is verifiable by your state authority to determine your appropriate discount rate." The subtext noted that "If State audits October 1 numbers, then you must use those student counts." Since states vary in terms of how and when they verify NSLP data, these statements generated considerable concern.
As indicated by both the SLD and the FCC last week, this "requirement" has been rescinded — at least for FY 2012. On Friday, the slide was updated on the SLD Web site eliminating that bullet. While this should eliminate some confusion during the coming application cycle, applicants should note that the program administrators are still interested in streamlining the review of applicant NSLP data and may institute other NSLP procedures in the future.
Conference Gifts and Door Prizes:
Despite additional SLD training guidance on the new E-rate gift rules (discussed in our newsletter of October 10, 2011), numerous gray areas remain. Conference organizers — and attendees, for that matter — are struggling with the applicability of these rules to vendor sponsorships of conferences, expenses, and attendee lunches, handouts, and raffles. A recent posting by the President of ACTEM (Association of Computer Technology Educators of Maine) provides useful advice — with several disclaimers — for conference planners and attendees as well.
SLD Fall Training Status:
The first four of the SLD's fall training workshops have been conducted. The agenda and slides for the SLD's 2011 training are available online. Subsequent workshops are being held regionally on the following schedule:
October 18 St. Louis, MO
October 27 New Orleans, LA
November 1 Los Angeles, CA
November 8 Orlando, FL
Applicants seeking other E-rate training opportunities should check for state-sponsored E-rate workshops. Contact information for state E-rate coordinators may be found on the State Information pages of the E-Rate Central Web site.
Schools and Libraries News Brief dated October 14 – Entity Numbers
Last week's SLD News Brief for October 14, 2011, reviews entity numbers. It provides explanations for the following questions:
- What is an entity number (whether for eligible entities or less common ineligible entities, e.g. a state procurement agency filing a statewide Form 470)?
- What is a Billed Entity Number (as opposed to a regular entity number)?
- How do I locate an entity number (using the SLD's Entity Search tool)?
- How do I request an entity number (from the Client Service Bureau at 888-203-8100 or using the online Submit a Question function)?
- What if my entity information is incorrect?