USAC's Schools and Libraries News Brief of August 14, 2020 discusses USAC's new (as of last Thursday) Category 2 Budget Tool for the next five-year budget cycle FY 2021 – FY 2025. For a user interested only in C2 budget data for a single applicant, the new tool may be a bit overwhelming. Its real power is to provide data for large sets of applicants. A useful first step is to watch the thirteen and a half minute video tutorial.
The opening screen of the new tool, shown below, is a bar graph of total Category 2 pre-discount budgets on a state-by-state basis.* The budget bars are shown in light blue that is denoted in the Legend as the "Available C2 Budget Amount." Currently, this represents total Category 2 budgets for the five-year budget cycle beginning in FY 2021. Ultimately, once applications are filed, reviewed, and approved for FY 2021, data will also be available on funded and pending Category 2 FRNs.

To find the Category 2 budget of a specific applicant (or group of applicants), use the filters on the right-hand side of the screen. For a single applicant you need only enter the BEN (or Billed Entity Name) in the appropriate filter field and click "Apply." The resulting display shown below includes one big bar that, if you mouse over it, changes color and displays a black box indicating the exact pre-discount Category 2 budget. The data line under the chart shows the details including the current number of full-time students ("Full T…") and the pre-discount budget ("C2 B…"). The student count in this "Forecast" view is based on the data currently in that entity's EPC profile.

A powerful aspect of the new tool is its ability to provide individual and aggregate Category 2 budget information for multiple entities. The example below includes a bar chart of total prediscount budgets by applicant type for New York. More importantly, the individual entity data displayed below the chart (13 lines at a time) can be exported in bulk into an Excel file using the "Export" button in the top right-hand corner of the screen.

The News Brief's description of the new Category 2 Budget Tool covers the following points, several of which require a little more explanation.
- C2 budget algorithms. Budgets for school districts and library systems depend upon the number and size of the individual "child" entities. The tool is designed to maximize the Category 2 budget of each district or system.
- C2 budget versions. The News Brief describes three different versions. Currently, in this pre-FY 2021 application stage, only the "forecast" version applies.
- C2 budgets will change according to a fixed, five-year cycle. The tool only applies to the new FY 2021-2025 period. There is no budget carry-forward from FY 2020.
- C2 budget multipliers and the funding floor for each five-year budget cycle will set once at the beginning of the cycle and apply to the entire cycle. The multipliers are not (as could be interpreted in the News Brief) adjusted for inflation within each cycle, but only from cycle to cycle.
- School districts and library systems with 10 or fewer child entities can also calculate their C2 budgets on a per site basis and combine the results. Based on the first bullet above (and our preliminary tests), the tool will optimize this option.
Friday's News Brief also provides updates and tips on the new multifactor authentication ("MFA") process for logging into and using the One Portal to access EPC and the BEAR system.
* To see all states and territories, hold down the left-hand mouse button and move the mouse up and down.