Last week the FCC issued four appeals all of which continue the recent trend of applicant friendly decisions.
Last week the FCC issued four appeals all of which continue the recent trend of applicant friendly decisions.
Zapata County Independent School District Zapata was denied funding because they failed to respond to USAC's requests for information. Zapata appealed because their Technology Facilitator was on a leave of absence due to military deployment. In remanding Zapata's funding request back to USAC for processing the FCC cited the Bishop Perry Order stating,
"USAC should reach out to applicants in order to ensure the successful processing of applications."
In a similar case decided in February 2006, Greenfield Public School District, the FCC refused to penalize a school district when the personnel necessary to respond to USAC's requests was on active duty during a time of war.
School Administrative District 67 USAC reduced funding to School Administrative District 67 because the technology plan submitted by the District did not cover all of FY2005. When USAC asked for a current technology plan, the District directed them to a website which contained the 2002-2005 plan that was in effect at the time of USAC's request. The District on appeal provided an approved tech plan that covered FY2005. The FCC remanded the decision back to USAC and noted,
"This error resulted from a miscommunication between USAC and the District. Although applicants must make every effort to ensure that the documentation they file with USAC complies with E-rate program requirements and requests by USAC for additional information, we remind USAC that it has an obligation to conduct a reasonable inquiry into the filings and materials that USAC itself has in its possession."
Gayville-Volin School District Gayville-Volin was denied funding for FY2005 because while the contract was signed by both parties, the contract was not dated by both parties. The FCC found no reason to doubt that a legally binding agreement existed between the parties and was therefore in compliance with the FCC rules. The FCC directed USAC to reinstate Gayville-Volin's funding commitment.
View the Gayville-Volin Appeal
Douglas-Omaha Technology Commission Douglas-Omaha was denied funding because they did not submit their Form 486 on time. The deadline was missed due to personnel changes which included the termination of its information officer.
The FCC found good cause to waive the deadline for filing the Form 486 and remanded the application to USAC for further action. The FCC stated,
"Given that the violation at issue is a USAC deadline, not a substantive Commission rule, we find that the complete rejection of this application is not warranted. Notably, there is no evidence of waste, fraud or abuse, misuse of funds, or a failure to adhere to core program requirements. Furthermore, we find that denial of funding in this case would inflict undue hardship on Douglas-Omaha."
