The Schools and Libraries Division announced that on March 30 it will send out 180 funding commitment letters approving more than $225.2 million in commitments for the 2003 funding year.
So far, the SLD has committed more than $2.3 billion for the 2003 funding year—the largest amount for a single funding year in the program's history. That total should continue to grow because the SLD is now authorized to commit a larger amount, recognizing that disbursements lag behind commitments, and because it can make use of up to $420 million in approved funds from previous years that applicants did not ultimately use.
The SLD said it will continue to issue waves every other week until the process is completed. Applicants who are now receiving approved commitments for non-recurring services will have until September 30, 2005 to use the funds.
For the 2004 funding year, the SLD has tallied $3.75 billion worth of funding requests so far. It is expected to report its demand estimate to the Federal Communications Commission within the next few weeks.
