Services: E-Rate Filing

E-Rate Services

by Tamera Burke

September 14, 2006

Smoky Hill Education Service Center provides:

School districts and libraries with a representative to file the E-Rate forms for a small fee of 5% of received funding for members and 7% of received funding for non-members.
Staff who will assist you with rewriting your Technology Plan. If you need to know when your Technology Plan is due, please give us a call and we can check for you.

Smoky Hill Education Service Center will continue to strive to make sure all libraries and schools are receiving every dollar that is available to them. Our record shows that we have never received a denial of benefits because of missed deadlines or incomplete forms. With constant updates and changes to online filing, let Smoky Hill take the burden away from your school district.

E-Rate Program:

The program is intended to ensure that schools and libraries have access to affordable telecommunications and information services. Eligible schools and libraries may receive discounts on eligible services (telecommunications, internet access, and internal connections) ranging from 20 percent to 90 percent, depending on economic need and locale (urban or rural). The level of discount is based upon the percentage of students eligible for the National School Lunch Program or other federally approved alternative mechanisms contained in the Improving America’s Schools Act. Libraries will use the discount percentage of the school district in which they are located.

Services Eligible for Discount:

Discounts can be applied to commercially available telecommunications services, internet access, basic maintenance of internal connections and internal connections. Eligible services range from basic local and long distance telephone services, and internet access services, to acquisition and installation of equipment to provide internal connections.

Application Overview:

To apply for discounts, SLD requires a four-stage application consisting of:

FCC Form 470 (Description of Services Requested and Certification)
FCC Form 471 (Services Ordered and Certification)
FCC Form 486 (Receipt of Service Confirmation)
FCC Form 472 (Billed Entity Applicant Reimbursement Form)

Once a funding request has been accepted and approved, the school or library will receive the applicable discount on its telecommunications and internet services. This can be done in two ways: The service provider may automatically apply the discount to your bill or the school/library may pay the entire bill and then file a reimbursement form with SLD to receive a check.

Technology Plan:

Before receiving discounts, each participating school and library must develop a technology plan and have it approved by an independent agency certified by the SLD. These agencies include state education or library agencies. The technology plan describes how schools and libraries intend to integrate the use of these technologies into their programs and curricula. School districts and libraries applying ONLY for basic local and long distance telephone service are not required to have technology plans.