Upcoming Dates:
| March 28 |
Close of the FY 2023 Form 471 application window at 11:59 p.m. EDT. |
| March 30 |
Reply comments due on requests to allow the use of E-rate funds for advanced or next generation firewalls and/or other network security services (DA 22-1315). |
| March 31 |
The Form 486 deadline for FY 2022 Wave 33. More generally, the Form 486 deadline is 120 days from the FCDL date or from the service start date (typically July 1st), whichever is later. Upcoming Form 486 deadlines are:
Wave 34 04/07/2023
Wave 35 04/14/2023
Wave 36 04/21/2023 |
| April 24 |
Due date for submitting comments on the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FCC 23-10) to further improve E-rate program rules and encourage greater Tribal participation (and potentially other small applicants) in the E-rate program (see our newsletter of February 6th). Reply comments are due by May 23rd. |
| May 8 |
Due date for submitting comments on the USDA’s proposed change to expand CEP participation by lowering the ISP threshold from 40% to 25% (see below). |
USDA Proposal to Lower CEP Eligibility Threshold:
On March 22, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) announced a proposed rule change that would lower the Identified Student Percentage (“ISP”) threshold for schools and districts to participate in the Community Eligibility Provision (“CEP”) from 40 percent to 25 percent. If adopted, this would permit and encourage more schools and districts to participate in the CEP program and likely raise E-rate discounts for some applicants with NSLP percentages currently under the next higher E-rate discount band. Comments on the proposed change are due May 8th.
ESH Apartment Wi-Fi Initiative:
EducationSuperHighway (“ESH”) conducted a webinar last week entitled Apartment Wi-Fi: Leveraging Grant Funding to Increase Property Value and Resident Satisfaction (recording). The webinar, aimed at apartment building owners, is part of a broader ESH initiative to provide affordable internet to low-income families in multi-tenant housing complexes. This is an effort that schools can support to help ensure adequate home internet access for their apartment-based students.
Useful resources discussed during the webinar, which schools could distribute to apartment owners in their areas, include:
- Apartment owner benefits of building-wide, managed Wi-Fi, internet services (flyer).
- Available funding through the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (“BEAD”) Program and the Digital Equity Act Program (flyer).