In the past year, education leaders have had a hand in the start-up of a unique nationwide program to connect every school and library in the United States to the Information Age. Formally called the Universal Service Fund for Schools and Libraries, but more popularly known as the "E-rate," this program is now coming to fruition. Months of hard work by educators and technology vendors are beginning to pay off as $1.9 billion in E-rate benefits roll out to schools across the country, making it possible for children in communities large and small, poor and affluent, rural and urban to have equal access to modern technologies in their classrooms.
What follows is a basic primer on the E-rate for teachers, administrators, curriculum leaders, and others who should play a role in implementing this ground-breaking new program in U.S. schools. After all, the ultimate purpose of any education technology initiative must always be student learning—which means that the E-rate really can't succeed without educators. Here's what you need to know to do your part.
The ABCs of the E-Rate
The first thing you'll discover about the E-rate is that it's different from practically any technology or funding initiative you've ever encountered. It's not a grant program, for one thing. Instead, it is a system of discounts that make telecommunications services affordable to schools and libraries. Nor is the E-rate strictly speaking a government program. Created by a bipartisan amendment to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, it is funded not through tax dollars but through fees paid by the telecommunications industry, and it is administered by a small, independent, not-for-profit organization called the Schools and Libraries Corporation (SLC). Virtually every K–12 school in the United States, public and private, is eligible to participate in the E-rate (only profit-making schools and those with endowments of more than $50 million are restricted from taking part), as is every U.S. public library.
Under the E-rate, schools qualify for a discount of 20 to 90 percent on telecommunications technologies that they buy on the open market (more on this in a moment). The depth of the discount depends on the percentage of the school's students who are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch. If half of your school's student population is eligible (not necessarily participating, but eligible on the basis of family income) for the National School Lunch Program, your school can receive a 90 percent discount on services—but even schools with no income-eligible students can qualify for a 20 percent discount.
- telecommunications services, including the wide range of the services you can buy or lease from a telephone company, from basic voice service to high-speed data lines;
- Internet access, meaning the services that enable you to log on to the Internet; and
- internal connections, meaning the wiring and equipment inside your school building that bring the information superhighway into classrooms. This category includes servers, hubs, systems software, and cabling, but not desktop computers, curriculum software, or teacher training.
Applying for the E-Rate
Tapping into the E-rate is a multistep process, and one that requires your school both to think hard about how technology fits its mission and to deal intelligently with the myriad vendors selling "just the thing" to bring that mission to life.
Your E-rate application really begins and ends with a technology plan. This is not an infrastructure schematic, but instead it addresses such topics as your school's educational goals, its plans for teacher training, its current technology inventory, and its technology budget. A technology plan developed for other purposes can satisfy the E-rate requirements if it addresses these key criteria. As an expert in curriculum and student learning, you have the role of developing a meaningful technology plan for your school, a role that cannot be overstated. Your job is to make certain that this plan, and the E-rate requests that flow from it, are directly connected with your school's goals for academic performance and student achievement. Ultimately, that connection is what guarantees that your school's investment in technology—including the energy and time it takes to apply for the E-rate—is worthwhile.
The first official form you complete for the E-rate is known as Form 470, and its purpose is to let the world know what kinds of services you're in the market for. When you file a Form 470 for new services or for services not currently under contract, your application is posted on the SLC Web site, where vendors nationwide peruse and respond to it. You're required to keep the bidding process open for at least 28 days before you choose a vendor, sign a contract (or make arrangements for noncontracted phone service, known as "tariff services"), and file Form 471, which lets SLC know the dollar value and duration of the E-rate discount you're seeking.
After your application has been processed and approved, your chosen vendors will integrate your E-rate discount into your billing account. From that point forward, when vendors bill you, they also bill the Schools and Libraries Corporation. You are responsible for the nondiscounted amount on your bill, and SLC is responsible for your discount. For example, if you were approved for a 60 percent discount on your phone service and your total monthly bill for phone service were $100, then you would owe $40 and SLC would owe $60.
Those E-rate discounts are designed to help even resource-poor schools afford infrastructure and service improvements. Further, the savings that schools see on their E-rate services can be reinvested in their larger technology program, including those items that the E-rate does not cover. Although no rules require E-rate savings to be spent any particular way, many schools plan to use theirs for more computers, better software, and extensive teacher training.
Planning for 1999–2000
The application process for the second year of the E-rate began on December 1, 1998, for services that schools and libraries will receive from July 1, 1999, through June 30, 2000. Although the program is technically designed to handle applications on a first-come, first-served basis, for this year, as for last, there is a "window" during which all completed applications (Forms 470 and 471) will be treated as if they had arrived on the same day. This year's window will be open for at least 80 days, through February 19, 1999.
- Go to the SLC Web site (<LINK URL="http://www.slcfund.org">www.slcfund.org</LINK>) or call the toll-free help line (888-203-8100) to find detailed information about the E-rate, including application materials and resources for vendors.
- Find out whether your school applied for the E-rate in 1998. If so, learn how the E-rate benefits are being applied, and help get the good news out to teachers, parents, and the community at large. If not, volunteer to assemble a team to submit your E-rate application for 1999–2000.
- Get your hands on your school's technology plan, and make sure that it addresses the teaching and learning goals you know are crucial to student success. With your input and perspective, the technology plan can become a catalyst for school improvement that goes far beyond the E-rate.
Even if you consider yourself a novice when it comes to bits, bytes, boxes, and wires, you have something that few "techies" possess: a deep understanding of how students learn. When educators combine that understanding with access to powerful technology tools, there is no limit to what schools can accomplish.
