E-Rate Program

The E-Rate Program is administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) under the direction of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Its purpose is to provide discounts to assist most schools and libraries in the United States to obtain affordable telecommunications and Internet access. The E-Rate program is intended to serve the less fortunate School Districts under the Free and Reduced Lunch applications that are sent to the parents of all the students in a district. Currently our District's discount percentage is 80% that is covered by the Schools and Libraries Program. The E-Rate Program currently has an annual budget of $3.9 billion with an additional $1billion for Wi-Fi connections. With the budget, The program's application process is divided into two sections which are Category 1 and Category 2. Under Category 1, services entitled through the E-Rate program includes Internet Access and Broadband Connectivity. Category 2 entitles Internal Connections such as data drops, district wireless equipment, network switch upgrades, and basic maintenance to support internal connections. The E-Rate program has been successful in our district with the help from other departments as well to include Purchasing, Instructional, Accounting, Budget, Operational Services, and Finance Department.

Effective July 2014, the FCC approved the E-Rate Modernization Order [2.0] which supports the following areas: Supporting broadband, reducing voice support, encouraging cost-effective purchasing, and streamlining the process. For more information, please click on the URL link below.

Universal Service Administrative Company
http://www.usac.org

Federal Communications Commission
http://www.fcc.gov