E-Rate Update

I listened to a webinar from Funds for Learning today on the E-Rate program and thought I would share a few things with you for an update:

The Funding Commitments for Funding Year 2018 have already started to roll out. Depending on how you look at the data between 43-51% of the applications submitted have already received a Funding Commitment Decision for Funding Year 2018 (July 1, 2018-June 30, 2019) in Wave 1 and 2.
The largest category of application is for Category 1, Lit Fiber with 16,605 applications filed. Only 94 self-provisioned network applications were filed nationwide.
The funding demand on Category 1 has remained consistent with last year - $2.6 - $2.7 billion.
Costs per Mb are generally going down for bandwidth and schools and libraries are purchasing higher speeds.
FCC is currently evaluating how Category 2 budgets are being used. There will be an NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rule Making) about Category 2 and the new Eligible Services List coming out soon, so it is recommended to give feedback through the FCC comments process when these are released.
Invite Congressional representatives and other policy-makers to visit schools and libraries to share how E-rate is making a difference to your students.
If you would like to provide input to Funds for Learning which will be compiled and sent to the FCC, you can complete their survey at https://www.fundsforlearning.com/2018survey