Education Service Center Region XITechnology Advisory Meeting

November 18, 2010

The final version of the new National Educational Technology Plan (NETP) includes a focus on individualized instruction and connectivity, and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said meeting the plan’s goals will help the nation’s students enter college and the workforce prepared to compete on a global level.

National Education Technology Plan Released

Duncan outlined the five main goals covered in the plan:

Using educational technology to fundamentally change the learning process by making it more engaging and tailored to individual student needs and interests;

Using educational technology to develop a new generation of assessments;

Connecting teachers with their peers and experts so they are always up-to-date on the resources available to them;

Building infrastructure that lets schools support access to technology in and out of the classroom; and

Harnessing the power of educational technology to increase school district productivity and student achievement.

National Education Technology Plan Released

Congress returned to work Nov. 15th for a short Lame Duck Session to attempt to complete work on all FY11 Appropriations bills. Including the bill that funds Dept. of Education and programs and EETT.

Both House and Senate draft version of FY11 education spending bills provide $100 million for EETT, the same level as FY10. Administration’s budget request eliminated all EETT funding. Upcoming negotiations on a final bill may result in cuts to EETT or even its outright elimination.

EETT Funding in the FY11 Budget

First Week open for pre-filing of bills 551 filed 57 had anything to do with education

What might impact technology?

HB 224 relating to bullying, including cyber-bullying, in public schools.

82nd Legislative Session

E-Rate Update

For services rendered 7/1/2011 - 6/30/2012 471 application window may open early

January instead of November/December◦ Likely reason is to prepare online system for new

471 Is expected to close mid March 2011 Form 470’s being accepted now!

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FY 2011 (Year 14) Coming Soon!

Don’t forget:

You must post a 470 for every service, every year, unless.....

You are in a multi-year contract that was originally competitively bid using a Form

470

For services rendered 7/1/2010 - 6/30/2011P2 funding down to 85%

Likely to hit 80%File the 486 after FCDL arrives

Double check TPESC website to make sure your 486’s are on file: http://tpesc.esc12.net/eratedata/default.aspx

Request discounted bills from vendors, if desired

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FY 2010 (Year 13) Details

New CIPA Law passed October 2008 In Nov 2009 NPRM, FCC did not include

guidance to the extent to which online safety must be taught – may be leaving this up to each school to decide

CIPA Order should be released in coming months that will contain details of implementation requirements

Will likely be effective beginning July 1, 2011

Changes to CIPA Law

Internet Safety Policies will be required to include "... educating minors about appropriate online behavior, including

interacting with other individuals on social networking websites and in chat rooms and cyberbullying awareness and response."

Essentially means that schools must educate students related to online safety in order to receive E-Rate funding

If you haven’t done so already, you might want to amend your Internet Safety Policies now and include this training in your curriculum

E-Rate requirements will NOT be retroactive Don’t be fooled by companies that claim they are FCC-

approved to provide this training or that you are required to purchase their product in order to be compliant

Changes to CIPA Law

Rules require all applicants to retain ALL E-Rate and related documents for 5 years from last day of service in a particular funding year

If auditor visits in 4 years, and documents are missing, it could be the basis to recover all funding from that funding year

Document and keep everything remotely related to E-Rate◦ Like what?

Document Retention

AUP and proof of public meeting

Signed contracts Budgets Purchase orders Packing slips Asset or inventory records Installation records All vendor invoices Front and back of checks as

proof of payment to vendor (non-discounted share)

Proof of receipt of payment from vendor (BEAR checks)

Soon: Proof that you are educating students about online safety

Tech plan and approval letter Proof of date tech plan “written” Consultant agreements RFP and proof of publication

date All vendor correspondence Winning and losing bids Professional development sign-in

sheets Bid evaluation documentation Proof of authorization to sign E-

Rate forms Filtering records and payments NSLP forms and enrollment

records Notification to vendor when

changing service providers

Documents to Retain

Can no longer switch vendors because of lower priceSome vendors were abusing lax SPIN change rules

and not bothering to participate in 470 bidding process

Legitimate reasons to switch include:vendor breach of contractservice provider is unable to performbankruptcy

If you switch you must select vendor that received the next highest point value in the original bid evaluation, assuming there was more than one bidder

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New SPIN Change Rules

WebhostingInitially proposed to become ineligibleFCC chose to retain webhosting eligibilityExpanded to include discussion boards, blogging, instant

messaging and chat.  INELIGIBLE: content, website development costs, searching

of databases or content, student attendance reporting, and grade books

GPSNot eligible, including the cellular and data charges that are

used to provide the serviceOnline backup

Not eligible Intrusion detection and prevention devices and

servicesNot eligible

FY 2011 Eligible Services List

• Beginning in FY 2011, maintenance severely curtailed

• Eligible: – Bundled manufacturer warranties up to 3 years• Cannot have a separate price

– Actual labor and break-fix cost• Ineligible:– Unbundled warranties, insurance-type warranties,

including Smartnet

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P2: Basic Maintenance

E-Rate funded equipment must remain at approved site for 3 full years after installationAfter which it may be moved to another eligible location, providing

documentation is retained describing transferIf school or library closes, equipment may be

moved to another entity, regardless of discountMust send letter to SLD outlining closing of school and transfer of

equipmentMust keep documentation regarding transfer for 5 years

NEW: After 5 years, equipment may be disposed of or soldDisposal does not need to be reported to USACProceeds from sale do not need to be returned to USAC

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Transfer of Equipment

Beginning with FY 2011, budget no longer required as part of tech plan

Beginning with FY 2011, E-Rate will only require written or approved tech plans if applying for Priority 2 funding (internal connections or basic maintenance)

However, tech plan requirements remain for other existing technology funding initiatives

Change to Tech Plan Rules

TEA requests that tech plan requirement for the coming year remain in place for all schools and districts

Therefore the schools must have an approved tech plan that spans July 2011 - June 2012:

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Change to Tech Plan Rules

Schools may now permit general public to use the schools’ Internet access during non-operating hours – at the schoolUntil February 2010, such Internet access was

only permitted to be used by K-12 students and staff for educational purposes

In February 2010, the FCC permitted such usage on a temporary basis

Community Use of Services

Three conditions for community use of school facilities: Usage is permitted only during a school’s “non-operating”

hours or summer  School may not request E-Rate funding for a higher level of

service than would be required for educational purposesSchools may not charge for the use of the Internet access,

but may charge reasonable fees to cover overhead costs from individuals that use the schools' services and facilitiesAlso: Organizations using a schools' services are permitted

to recover related costs (e.g., “curriculum development and presentation costs”) from attendees

Community Use of Services

School not required to open facilities Internet filtering rules must remain intact

during use New rule in no way permits schools to share

their bandwidth with other ineligible entities, such as an off-site after-school program at the YMCA or community center

Also does not permit partially eligible entities, such as a Diocesan office that provides services to both schools and the church, to stop cost allocating the ineligible portion of Internet use

Community Use of Services

New Form 470 and 471

for FY 2011

File current 470 and certify ASAP As soon as new 470 approved and online, old

470 version won’t be accepted – Flash Cut New 470 removes many of the unused

features and questionsMTM/contract/multi-year contract checkboxesBEAR/SPI preference questionIneligible entities sectionNecessary resources checkboxesArea codes and phone pre-fixes section

Added item for consultant registration number

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New Form 470 for FY 2011

http://tpesc.esc12.net/eratedata/default.aspx

Enter your E-Rate Entity Number in the field at the top of the page

Website shows◦ All FRNs◦ Every Funding Year◦ What Has Been Filed◦ What Has Been Committed and Disbursed

Where Can I Look For Information?

Discount Program for Public Educational Institutions

The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) oversees the telecommunications discount program for libraries, schools, institutions of higher education, and hospitals that was created in 1995 as part of HB 2128 and which was extended in 2007 (through HB 735).  

HB 2128

The statutory provisions governing some of discounted rates are set to expire on January 1, 2012. See Texas Utilities Code Chapters 57, 58, and 59.

The discount program remains an essential component of the state’s information and telecommunications infrastructure.

Without the discount program, many eligible institutions would be unable to meet their current level of service.  

HB 2128

Without direct legislative action in the 82nd Session, some of the discounts will end.

This impacts all schools and libraries that lease circuits. i.e., T1 lines, OptEman’s, GigaMan’s.

Texas Library Association Telecom Surveyhttp://www.txla.org/state-telecommunications-discount-program

HB 2128

Widening of I35

Did you Know?