Claiming 2022 Reimbursements and More
Three Things To Check This Month
Please read this newsletter carefully! This is a crucial time of year to secure E-rate funding for the ‘23/’24 school year, or Funding Year 2023.
1) Receiving State Reimbursements
Idaho LEAs are eligible for reimbursements for their monthly Internet access and transport bills. These connections must be funded by E-rate under Category 1.
We are now collecting eligible invoices dated between July 1st and December 31st. These invoices will be processed by January 2023.
To get started and receive your LEA’s upload link, please complete this survey to confirm contact details:
2) Seasonal Checklist
A) A Look At Next Year:
If your Internet contract expires 6/30/2023:
Starting the E-rate/bidding process by filing a Form 470.
You have through to the end of January/start of February to file a Form 470 and solicit bids for Internet service. You must wait at least 28 days before chosing a bid.
You are encouraged to attach an RFP (Request for Proposals), and wait at least 45-60 days to ensure you receive competitive bids.
Click here to schedule a chat with me and learn more.
B) Between Now & End of December/Start of January:
The EPC Administrative Window has opened and closes January 2023.
Schools have the next two-and-a-half months to to do the following:
Add/update school entities as needed.
Update enrollment data on E-rate entity profile
This information affects your discount percentage and Cat2 budget.
To determine percentage, see the discount matrix
IMPORTANT: The data the SDE office uses to confirm USAC’s verification requests comes from the November ISEE Upload Submission.
School districts with ten or fewer schools: USAC recommends you enter student counts individually by school in order to maximize your Category 2 budget options. Otherwise, student counts can be inputted at the district level.
C) Category 2 replacement budgets
If you have added/removed entities or had a significant change in student count and believe it will increase your Category 2 budget, you can request an update C2 budget once during this five-year budget cycle (ending FY2025).
Before you complete the request, you can see a preview of the updated total budget (pre-discount).
To do this, log in to EPC, and select the option under “Related Actions”
3) Check Out This Free Tool!
Our friends at Funds For Learning unveiled a new free tool that E-rate applicants can use to browse their E-rate application data.
Speaking at the SHLB Conference last month, Funds For Learning revealed a solution to making an applicant’s E-rate application data much more accessible to them by consolidating three different public systems of data.
Funds For Learning claims they will never charge for this tool because they believe that applicants flourish in the long-term when they have easier access to their own.
NOTE: Funds For Learning is an E-rate consulting group, and the SDE does not endorse or promote any specific consultants or consulting firms.