|
|
|
 Home |
News |
Visitor |
Data |
Topics |
|
|
Wisconsin E-rate InformationOctober 31, 2008 
CONTENTS
Note: More recent information provided below may supersede older information. October 2008 update1) DPI Fall E-rate sessions. We have scheduled two online workshops as follows. There is no need to register. Both live sessions will be archived for future viewing.
2) 2007 BEAR Form and 2008 Form 486 deadlines.
The SLD’s October 10 News Brief has good information on filing both of these forms. Applicants need to file the Form 486 by October 29 only if the date of the funding letter (FCDL) is on or before July 1. If you have not yet received a FCDL, you will have 120 days to file the 486 after the date on the FCDL. For example, if you get a FCDL on October 22, you will have until about February 22, 2009 to file the 486. 3) Collection of fall 2008 lunch data. Like last year, lunch data is being collected this fall as part of each district’s completing the data needed for the Individual Student Enrollment System (ISES). The deadline for completing the ISES data entry is Oct. 27. Every district has an ISES coordinator. You may want to contact that individual and ask about the status of ISES data entry. The sooner we can get valid data, the sooner we can confirm poverty (lunch) counts for 2009. Once entered, ISES data goes through a series of edit checks and we will likely not get a file out on lunch data before mid-December. 4) New federal law. The President signed the Broadband Data Improvement Act (PL 110-385) on October 10. Title II of this act, “Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act,” is designed to promote Internet use “in a manner that promotes safe online activity for children, protects children from cybercrimes, including crimes by online predators.” The legislation adds an additional requirement to the CIPA Internet Safety Policy that each district must have to receive Internet access or internal connection discounts. The added language says that as part of the Internet safety policy the school is "educating minors about appropriate online behavior, including interacting with other individuals on social networking websites and in chat rooms and cyberbullying awareness and response.” The FCC will be providing guidance on the impact of this on the 2009 E-rate funding year. September 2008 update There are no substantive changes to the 2009 E-rate forms or the overall application process. Form 470 for 2009 services can be filed at any time. However, before you file the 470 you must have your technology plan written, but not necessarily approved, that covers the services you request in the 470. (The plan must be approved by start of service, usually July 1.) On September 17 the DPI submitted comments to the FCC's draft 2009 Eligible Services List (ESL). In brief, the department supports eligibility for VoIP, filtering software, expanding the definition of basic phone service and the inclusion of distance education scheduling software. Once the FCC finalizes the 2009 ESL it will then set the filing window dates for submitting Form 471. We assume this will open about mid-November with a 471 deadline in early February 2009. State Superintendent Burmaster has sent a letter to DOA Secretary Michael Morgan requesting DOA include language in its proposed 2009/11 state budget that provides sufficient funding for the state's TEACH program. The DPI's request is to ensure that TEACH has enough funds to fully subsidize every school or library request for increased bandwidth on the BadgerNet Converged Network (BCN). In her letter the superintendent also stated, "The Internet has infused itself into almost all facets of our school and library operations, and it is critical to student learning and library patron access to information. Therefore, DPI supports the broadest use of TEACH subsidized circuits. We think local schools and libraries are in the best position to determine what Internet-based services or applications they need." January 2008 updates 1) AT&T SPINs Various AT&T acquisitions and service changes over the past several years has resulted in some SPIN confusion. Recently staff from AT&T, DPI and TEACH had a conference call to clarify SPINS. Based on this call, please use the following guidance in completing your Form 471s.
2) 2008 enrollment and free/reduced lunch data The final 2008 enrollment and free/reduced lunch data are now available. The data are the same in both files but the second one has district totals and a worksheet sorted by CESA. Note the following:
The DPI has posted information that applies to schools and libraries which will be using the state Department of Administration (DOA) contract to receive discounts on (1) cell (voice) phone services, and/or (2) Internet services received via handheld devices. (Applicants always have the option of selecting the provider of their choice, outside of the state contract.) If you will be purchasing services from the DOA contract note the following:
See the site E-rate Cell and Handheld Device Discounts Using the State Contract for more detailed information. 4) STS Discounts The Website on information on filing for STS long distance phone discounts for 2008 has been updated.
1) Bandwidth Options Many schools and libraries are finding that they have insufficient bandwidth to meet the needs of their staff, students, or library patrons. Staff at the DPI, the Department of Administration (DOA) BadgerNet team, the BadgerNet Advisory Council and DOA TEACH have prepared a paper titled 2008 E-rate Application Cycle and Bandwidth Options to assist you in reviewing and selecting the best option for increasing your bandwidth. September 2007 updates 1) Lunch Data Reporting Starting this fall, the DPI will no longer have a separate Website for schools to report students eligible for free/reduced lunch. Instead, we will be using lunch eligibility data reported to us via the Individual Student Enrollment System (ISES). We hope that elimination of the separate data collection — used in past years for the E-rate and DPI's food and nutrition programs — will save districts time. Every district has a staff person responsible for completing their district's ISES reporting. I encourage you to work with that person to make certain your data on student eligibility for free/reduced lunch are entered in a timely manner. Information on this is on the ISES site at at Economically Disadvantaged Status Website. As you can see from this fall's time frame for ISES data collection, schools have several weeks at the beginning of the school term to process NSLP applications. This time period may extend beyond the 3rd Friday of September. (Some districts process NSLP applications well into Oct.) We anticipate having a final Excel file available of each district's free/reduced lunch and enrollment data in the latter half of December. This time frame is about the same as in past years when we used the separate Website reporting. We have been unofficially told by the SLD that the 471 filing window will be about the same as the past several years: It will open in late November and close in early February. For questions on ISES reporting, contact your district's ISES Administrator. If you have any questions related to using ISES data to determine your E-rate discount, then contact Bob Bocher. 2) New school year Now that school has started, if a new person in your district (or library) will be doing E-rate, be certain he/she subscribes to DPI's E-rate email list. 3) More PIA contacts coming, respond as needed With the resumption of school, PIA will increase contacts with applicants to resolve outstanding issues with Form 471s submitted before the February 7 deadline. In past years PIA would often routinely deny applications for minor rule violations. The FCC is now requiring more outreach by PIA to resolve these issues, and thus hopefully fund your application. While this is good news, it can result in PIA asking some annoying and bewildering questions. For more details on this, see the section titled "Changes in PIA Reviews for FY2007" in the April 20 News Brief at http://www.usac.org/sl/tools/news-briefs/preview.aspx?id=86 Many PIA questions relate to contract issues (e.g., did you have a legal contract when you filed the 471?). In the past the FCC required two signatures (provider and school) and two dates on each contract. But in April the FCC said that it would start using state contract law to determine if an applicant has a legally binding contract. DPI generally does not give legal advice on issues not directly related to a DPI program. So if needed, you may have to consult with an attorney if PIA has contract questions. NOTE: Failure to respond to a PIA request will likely cause an application to be denied or have funding reduced. If you have any questions on how you should respond to a PIA request, contact Steve Sanders (Stephen.Sanders@dpi.wi.gov) or Bob Bocher.
Below are several recent updates. On June 18 Superintendent Burmaster wrote our Congressional delegation seeking cosponsor support for bipartisan legislation designed to protect the E-rate. Currently, there are companion bills (S.609/H.R.278) in the House and Senate to permanently exempt the E-rate from the federal Antideficiency Act (ADA). In late 2004, the FCC concluded that the E-rate was subject to the ADA. This interpretation disrupted E-rate disbursements for nearly 6 months and forced USAC to lose millions of dollars in investments that would otherwise have provided more E-rate funding. Congress has intervened to head-off similar service disruptions during each of the past 3 years by passing legislation to temporarily exempt the E-rate from the ADA. The current temporary exemption will expire on December 31, 2007. A bipartisan group in Congress is seeking to make the exemption permanent. Just over $2.5 million has been funded thus far for 2007. This amount represents 376 funding requests (FRNs) out of a total of 2,384 FRNs filed by the February 471 deadline. Several schools contacted DPI saying they have heard nothing from PIA since submitting their 471. The SLD says it still has "thousands" 471s that have not yet had any PIA review. Now that summer vacation here, if PIA cannot contact you, your 471 will be placed on a "hold" list and will not reviewed again until September. So it is best if you can check your email or voice mail throughout the summer months and respond to any PIA request. To see the status of your 471, go to the SLD's Services Ordered and Certification Form 471 Application Status site, enter your BEN and hit Search. Even if you've not been contacted by PIA, you should still see a status of "Certified-In Window." The FCC has started to review the Eligible Services List (ESL) for the 2008 application cycle. DPI will make at least the following recommendations for the 2008 list.
There is still no new DOA cell phone contract as of July 1, 2007. The old contract has been extended pending signing of the new contract.
1) Cell phone discounts via the state contract The current state Department of Administration (DOA) cell phone contract expires on June 30, 2007. DOA will be bidding for a new cell contract to start July 1, 2007. However, this new or "replacement" contract will not be signed before the February 7, Form 471 filing deadline. Thus, to enable schools and libraries to purchase off the replacement cell contract, you must follow the SLD guidance on follow the SLD guidance on State Replacement Contracts. See the Website below for details on this process. 2) Common reasons for E-rate denials DPI staff have compiled a list of the Common Reasons for E-rate Funding Denials. This list is based on Wisconsin applications from 2004 through 2006. In this three-year period, 8.3% of all funding requests were denied. See the listing of denials for more detailed explanations on why applications are denied. The five most common reasons are listed below.
State Agency Resource Staff Please contact the following staff if you have questions. K-12 public school E-rate questions and public school technology plans: Stephen Sanders Library E-rate questions and public library and library system technology plans: Bob Bocher E-rate and private school technology plans: Bruce Vande Zande
Bob Bocher, Technology Consultant
Last updated on 10/31/2008 11:40:53 AM |
 |
|
|
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Elizabeth Burmaster
Department of Public Instruction, 125 S. Webster Street, P.O. Box 7841, Madison, WI 53707-7841 (800) 441-4563  Contact Us About Us Copyright Privacy Non Discrimination Accessibility DPI Home
|
