E-rate presentation

1. Who doesn’t love discounts? E-rate Monika O .Gonzalez Course 5306

2. What is E-Rate? Who is eligible? What services are available? What’s not covered? How much money is available for discount? How are discounts determined? What services are eligible and not eligible? Agenda

3. What is E-rate? The E-Rate is the discount that schools and libraries will receive for the acquisition of telecommunication services. Eligible schools and libraries can receive discounts of 20-90 percent on telecommunication services, Internet access and internal connections necessary for deploying technology into the classroom.

4. Who's Eligible? Schools: Elementary and secondary schools as defined within the Elementary and Secondary Education Act are covered. Private schools are eligible as long as they are not operated as a for-profit business and do not have an endowment exceeding $50 million. Individual schools, school districts and consortia are eligible applicants. Libraries: Public libraries as defined in the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) are also eligible. This includes individual library branches, library facilities, library systems and library consortia.

5. What Services are Available? Telecommunication Services: regular telephone lines for teachers to receive phone calls in the classroom, pagers for security officials, high bandwidth telecommunication services, satellite delivery for distance learning, and coaxial cable. Internet Access: E-mail and access to the World Wide Web are subject to discounts. Internal Connections--Bringing the Technology into the Learning Environment:routers, hubs, network file servers, wireless Local Area Networks and software needed for operation of file servers. Personal computers used solely as switches or fileservers are eligible.

6. Computers for teachers or students, fax machines, modems, software, professional development, and asbestos removal. Resale of discounted services is prohibited. What's not Covered?

7. Up to $2.25 billion per year will be available from the Universal Service Fund.The Fund for schools and libraries will be established on January 1, 1998. How Much Money is Available in Discounts?

8. The level of discounts for schools and libraries is based upon the level of eligibility in the federal free and reduced lunch program. Libraries will use the school lunch eligibility percentage from their local school districts. How Are the Discounts Determined?

9. An "Eligible Services List" is posted on the SLD web site. Eligible Services

12. For more information about the E-rate, go to the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) website If you have questions about the E-rate, call the SLD Client Service Bureau at 888-203-8100, or fax 888-276-8736. To obtain SLD documents, call 800-959-0733. You can also direct questions and comments to comments@universalservice.org. Further Information

13. There are several sites on the Internet that provide quality information on education and the E-Rate. U.S. Department of Education at http://www.ed.gov/Technology/ Federal Communications Commission at http://www.fcc.gov/learnnet Where to Learn More:

14. http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oii/nonpublic/erate.html Information Provided by: