This week over 500 E-rate applicants and 500 service providers were notified about the status of their FY 2007 applications. The SLD released FY 2007 funding wave 24 committing nearly $50 million. To date, the SLD has committed $1.58 billion and has $1.94 billion pending for FY 2007 requests.
In recent weeks the SLD has begun to deny applicants because of failure to plan for the "2-in-5 rule". Starting in FY 2005 school districts can only request internal connections twice out of every five years at a particular site. For example, if a site at a school district received internal connections dollars in FY 2005 and FY 2006 then that particular site could not receive internal connections until FY 2010. However, school districts can still request basic maintenance on eligible equipment each year. According to a Funds For Learning analysis the SLD has already denied nearly $1.4 million in FY 2007 because of this rule violation.
It is often times difficult for school districts to track deadlines, manage funding commitments effectively, remember which sites have received internal connections at any given year and stay in compliance with the E-rate rules and regulations. Funds For Learning has created an award winning tool called E-rate Manager that makes it easy for school officials to monitor all their E-rate related activity.
The full funding waves may be viewed at E-rate Manager Wave Reports .
