Eight Rhode Island Schools will receive support on their ride along the information superhighway thanks to E-Rate funding. The Washington, D.C.-based Universal Service Fund, popularly known as the “e-rate” makes technology such as phone service and the Internet affordable for every school and library in the country. Administered by the Schools and Libraries Corporation (SLC), a non-profit corporation created by the Federal Communications Commission, the program is designed to ensure that the benefits of universal communication services reach kids and communities.
The recent awards are part of 11th and 12th waves of the second year of the program, said Jodie Pozo-Olano of the Universal Service Administrative Co., which runs the fund.
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We are about a third of the way through issuing this year’s funds,” she said.
The Providence School District was granted the most funding in the Ocean State, receiving more than $3.1 million. East Providence, which received just over $46,000, was second . Other school districts which received funding: Ocean Tides in Narragansett, $22,000, The Narragansett School district, $13,000, LaSalle Academy, $5,625, Middletown School District, $2,099, Rhode Island School for the Deaf, $1,900, and the Central Falls School District, $1,296.
So far, year two of the program, Rhode Island schools and libraries have received approximately $6.3 million, almost $300,000 more than the previous year. Nationally, almost $800 million in funding has been set aside for this year.
Established by the Telecommunication Act of 1996 and funded at up to $2.25 billion per year by contributions from telecommunications companies, the E-rate provides discounts between 20 and 90 percent on telecommunications in schools and libraries.
The services are broken down into two priorities. Priority one includes basic phone service, both local and long distance, and Internet access, while priority two includes internal connections, or wiring and equipment needed to bring the information directly to classrooms and libraries. The discounts are paid directly to the companies that provide school and libraries with these services.
The service provider draws the money from an established fund when the discount is given to a school or library,” said Pozo-Olano. “The funded organization is then only required to pay the un-discounted portion of the bill.”
All public schools, non-profit parochial and private schools with endowments under $50 million, public libraries, and some non-profit private libraries accessible to the public are eligible for the program.
Schools and libraries qualify for the discounts according to the income level of students in their community whether their location is rural or urban. In February, U.S. Sen. Jack Reed wrote to many local school district superintendents, school principals, school committee members and librarians urging them to apply to the program.
”While computers have become a part of our everyday lives at school and at work, there are still many homes in Rhode Island that are without personal computers,” Reed said in a statement. “The e-rate program is playing an important part in helping both students and adults improve their computer skills by making access to computers and the Internet possible in our schools and libraries.”
To qualify for the program, applicants must first develop a technology plan which includes: goals on improving the school or library; what services are needed to meet those goals; how the staff or students will use the networked information; how additional computers, training and software will be purchased; and how will the technology improve education or library service.
This really requires schools and libraries to assess the technology needs that they have,” said Dawn Bergantino of Reed’s office. “Part of this is conducting inventories of the technology and resources they currently have available, but it’s most important to develop a long term plan.”
After establishing a technology plan, applicants are required to fill applications, and work with the Universal Service Administration Company to find service vendors, and receive funding approval.
Pozo-Olano said this year, at the request of the applicants, funding commitments have come on a regular basis.
Last year we sent out funding commitment letters when we had a large number ready to go,” she said. “But we heard from the applicant community that they would prefer to have a more regular schedule so we tried to accommodate.”
Applicants are required to reapply for the funding on a yearly basis, and applications for year three are being accepted.
