I love the Christmas season, now termed the Holiday season by those more politically correct. As a technology provider for schools, it marks the start of the annual gift giving season by the Universal Services Administrative Company for eligible technology hardware and services.
The gifts are in the form of reimbursements through the eRate program, and you might not be getting your fair share!
Like me, you may not generally favor government largesse; but the eRate program is reasonably well run, self-funded, and designed to support the most financially disadvantaged student populations (among other institutions). Take a look at your last telephone bill – mobile or otherwise – and you will see a small fee titled Federal Universal Services Fee. That is the source of the funding – everybody pays a little.
Charter Schools, unfortunately are more likely to receive a proverbial “lump of coal” in their Christmas – woops – Holiday stockings, than traditional school's. The reason is simple, it takes a level of expertise and a significant investment of time to wade through the myriad of forms, compliances, and dates associated with the program. Many Charter Schools simply don’t have the resources to successfully do this.
What a shame!
In a nutshell, there are two broad categories of reimbursements you can receive; they are labeled in the eRate program as Priority 1 eligible services and Priority 2 eligible services. Priority 1 services consist primarily of Internet, Telephone, Email, and Website Hosting Services. Priority 2 services consist of hardware components and services used within you’re your building to connect, route, secure, and deliver technology to end users.
These expenses are reimbursed at a rate roughly equivalent to your free and reduced lunch count percentages. Priority 1 services are always eligible for reimbursement; Priority 2 services have discount level thresholds, technology plans, and additional requirements.
What is the easiest way to participate in this annual gift giving? It might not be as difficult as you would think.
Here are a few things you can do to improve your chances of having a Happier eRate Holiday:
1. Identify state eRate consortiums and join them
Check with your state office of education to see if there is an eRate Consortium. If one exists, they will often handle your Priority 1 items. In fact some states will give you a steal of a deal on broadband AND help you file the eRate forms to boot.
Give yourself plenty of time. These organizations can be quite bureaucratic and move at a snails pace, but the value proposition can be excellent.
2. Verify that your telecom provider has an eRate department
If your state does not offer broadband, your telephone company should have the resource to help you file for your eRate reimbursement. In fact, you might even find a provider that will only bill you for the unreimbursed costs of your telephone, internet, and fax lines. It is common to bundle internet service with your telephone, especially in rural areas.
Be careful, you still must comply with the eRate program for both priorities and you can easily run afoul of the rules when your telecom sales representative gets involved.
3. Don’t forget your email and webhosting costs
While normally not significant, email services and web hosting costs are always eligible for eRate reimbursement, regardless of your discount rate. If you are settling for a third rate website and the crappy email system that comes attached to it, do yourself a huge favor, upgrade your email and website system and get reimbursed for doing so. It makes the cost very reasonable, and you will likely get huge productivity improvements to boot!
4. Outsource the entire eRate filing process to a professional
The adage of “Penny wise, pound foolish” is my favorite description of those who elect not to choose door #4. In the decade of my involvement with Charter Schools, I have seen very large sums of money lost because school administrators thought they could do this on their own.
Freestanding and independent Charter Schools lack the economy of scale to compete on the eRate playing field. Traditional school districts often have full time staffers just for this purpose.
The most common mistake is to presume an incorrect discount rate (there are ways to improve it significantly rather than just counting free and reduced lunch percentages), then buy the prevailing wisdom that you do not qualify for the big ticket Priority 2 items. And the results are both predictable and deplorable. All it takes is a cursory search on the USAC website to demonstrate how poorly most charter schools fare in receiving Priority 2 reimbursements.
Did you know that in in 2010, every school at every discount rate received their Priority 2 funding! There are multi-year adjustments to the funding pool, and even the most seasoned eRate professionals don’t really know where the exact cutoff will fall for Priority 2 funding.
Don't listen to the naysayers that Priority 2 funding is impossible to acheive. It's bad advice!
Summary
When you are faced with critical tasks that require a high degree of specialization, but for only small projects or periods of time, it is usually best to outsource the task. This is exactly our position about the design and engineering aspect of your technology infrastructure. Likewise, eRate is a highly specialized process, which trained professionals can manage in a fraction of the time you would spend.
Don’t brush this matter off for another year! Locate an eRate consultant, one who is a Certified eRate Management Professional, and invest in their services. You do it for special ed, technology, finance, and many other tasks – why not for eRate.
‘Tis the season to do eRate, and have a much happier holiday… or Merry Christmas, as the case may be by getting your share of the eRate gift giving.
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