Our E-rate Department consists of three team members including Robyn Prell, Terry Nastri, and Amanda Redhead. Robyn has led the team since 2009 as its project manager. Terry began in 2004, and most likely holds a record somewhere for tracking and reconciling the most telecommunications invoices. Amanda, along with her much appreciated web-savvy and quick typing fingers, joined the team in 2014.Q: What is E-rate?
A: E-rate is actually a nickname for the Schools and Libraries Program and one of the crowning achievements of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
E-rate is often dubbed the nation’s largest [and only] educational technology program, and rightfully so. The program fundamentally transformed education in this country by helping connect schools and libraries to modern communications at affordable rates.
Overseen by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), E-rate is one of four programs administered by the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). USAC is the not-for-profit corporation designated by the FCC to administer the $10 billion Universal Service Fund that all consumers pay into via the universal service fees on our telecommunications bills.
Q: How does E-rate impact student learning?
A: Twenty years ago, only 14 percent of schools had access to the Internet and that access was via dial-up. Today, over 95 percent of schools are connected. Most accomplished this by receiving discounts from 20-90 percent on telecommunications services and equipment via the E-rate program, with the higher discounts going to higher poverty schools.
In 1996, the goal was to connect the building. That goal grew to connecting the classroom and finally to connecting the individual. Today’s challenge is not connectivity—it’s capacity. Broadband and connected devices are changing every aspect of our lives. We are now a nation with more mobile phones than people with three-quarters of all children having access to a mobile device and half of all teenagers owning their own smartphone.
As Jessica Rosenworcel, commissioner of the FCC recently stated, “... the future belongs to the connected. No matter who you are or where you live in this country, you need access to modern communications to have a fair shot at 21st century success.”
Without the financial support of the E-rate program—more than $3 million annually to this region—our network wouldn't be cutting-edge state-of-the-art. Instead, when New York State proposed the Smart Schools Bond Act and specified bandwidth requirements as a prerequisite for receiving funds, our districts already had the mandated capacity via our regional wide area network (WAN) to meet those requirements.
Through the dedication, foresight, and leadership of this organization, its member districts, and BOCES, E-rate funding has been leveraged to build a state-of-the-art, private, fiber-based network, which now connects all four BOCES and 48 of 50 eligible school districts to a regional WAN. CNYRIC’s Central New York Regional WAN provides high-speed direct access to dedicated Internet bandwidth and CNYRIC hosted services to all participants.
It’s an education superhighway of sorts, one realized with the help of E-rate reducing the cost of connectivity and capacity, sometimes up to 90 percent. It’s these robust connections that make one-to-one learning possible and provide students with local content and Internet connectivity via their own individual device in the classroom.
Q: How does the E-rate program work for our school districts?
A: Because the E-rate application and compliance process is complex and time-consuming, districts across the state often rely on BOCES and Regional Information Centers for assistance. In Central New York, all 50 school districts and the four BOCES belong to the CNYRIC E-rate Consortium and participate in our service. We work closely with member school business officials and technology leaders throughout the year.
As the E-rate Consortium Lead, we navigate and complete the rigorous application process for participants in order to ensure compliance with program rules and receive the most dollars for the most cost-effective solutions available.
Under the program, funding is requested and committed on an annual basis. Locally, our members receive discounts ranging from 40 to 90 percent with the current Consortium rate of 69 percent. Services for connectivity and capacity are eligible for support along with equipment that supports the delivery of broadband. Expenses are reimbursed (discounted) at rates based on poverty level and geographic location of the student population served.
Organizationally and regionally, it’s also where the rubber meets the road. The E-rate discount rate starts at 20 percent and increments to 90 percent. This rate is measured by the percentage of students eligible for the National School Lunch Program. We have seen where the identification and reporting of just two [more] students can mean an additional 10-20 percent savings for an entire district. And thanks to the efforts of our folks in the Food Service, Data Warehouse, and Student Services Departments—directly or indirectly—school districts in our region receive the maximum discount to which they are entitled.
Thanks to Robyn for providing such a thorough overview of our E-Rate Department. To learn more, please contact Robyn at rprell@cnyric.org.
