Upcoming E-Rate Dates:
| June 30 |
Extended deadline to calculate Identified Student Percentage (“ISP”) data for use with the Community Eligibility Provision (“CEP”) free school meal option. The deadline for electing the CEP option for the 2020-2021 school year has also been extended to August 31st (see USDA’s COVID-19: Child Nutrition Response #6). |
FCC Decision Watch:
In a break from its tradition of issuing a set of month-end “streamlined” appeal and waiver decisions, or perhaps in addition to them, the FCC released a mid-month resolution (DA 20-624) granting waivers for 161 FY 2020 late-filed Form 471 applications. Two-thirds of the waivers came on applications that were filed within 14 days of the close of the window — a standard FCC policy. The remaining waivers were approved with the explicit explanation that the applicants’ late filings were “due to delays beyond their control” — most specifically attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. Examples of the successful appeals — many simply referencing school closings — can be found online in the FCC’s Search for Filings under Docket 02-6.
Remote Learning Legislation Update:
There were encouraging developments in Congress last week when Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), ranking Republican member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, released a legislative “Broadband Connectivity and Digital Equity Framework” to promote broadband deployment, enhance network security, and work to close the digital divide. From an educational standpoint, the framework includes an explicit goal to “Ensure that students have access to broadband and necessary technologies to complete their homework remotely.”
The framework also stresses the need to support “our nation’s carriers, who have worked tirelessly to keep America connected during the COVID-19 pandemic, to make sure they are able to continue responding to their consumers quickly and safely.” This objective aligns nicely with a letter that FCC Chairman Pai sent to Congress Friday supporting legislation to help consumers and small businesses stay connected as a way to extend the Chairman’s Keep Americans Connected Pledge that is codified in the House’s proposed HEROES Act (see our newsletter of May 18th).
With both houses of Congress — and more importantly, support from both Republicans and Democrats — perhaps we can see some progress on remote learning resources later this summer.