On December 16, the California Department of Education (CDE) posted the Request for Applications (RFA) for $5.5 million in new Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) Competitive grants. The maximum district grant under this program is approximately $300,000. Schools previously funded through the ARRA or No Child Left Behind EETT Competitive process ARE ELIGIBLE to apply for Round 9 EETT-C funds.

An eligible applicant who submitted an application for the ARRA EETT-C program in October of 2009 may choose to substitute the score from that application for use in Round 9 of the EETT-C. However, districts will not be notified what those scores were. The scores from the October 2009 ARRA EETT C applications and the scores from new Round 9 applicants will be merged for ranking and awarding purposes. LEAs opting to use their October 2009 ARRA EETT C score are only required to submit Form 1- Application Title Page. If the LEA is awarded a Round 9 EETT-C grant, the LEA will be required to revise their goals, timelines and budget forms to reflect the revised award amount.

The RFA is available on the CDE Web site at http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/r5/eettc10rfa.asp. The RFA details the funding structure, funding priorities, and programmatic requirements of the EETT Competitive grant program.

The application must be received by the CDE no later than 5 p.m. on February 1, 2011.

For more information about the EETT Competitive Grant, please visit the CDE’s website.

For additional support from CTAP, see the Recorded Online Webinar on EETT Competitive Round 9 or contact your local CTAP office.

CDE/K-12 HSN E-rate NEWS BRIEF:

•    E-rate Window Announced
•    E-rate Deployed Ubiquitously (EDU) 2011 Applications Due December 17, 2010
•    FCC Issues Clarification to 6th Report and Order

E-rate Window Announced :

USAC has announced the Form 471 window which opens on January 11th, 2011, and closes on March 24th, 2011 at 8:59 PM PST. PLEASE make sure you do not wait until the last minute to file your E-rate applications. It is critical that you leave enough time to wait the 28 days (we recommend at least 29) after posting your Form 470, BEFORE you can submit your Form 471. Some districts may need to take their Form 471 selected vendors/contracts to their governing board for approval. So make sure to factor that into your time table. See the following USAC Link for more details:  [ http://www.usac.org/sl/tools/latest-news.aspx ]http://www.usac.org/sl/tools/latest-news.aspx

E-rate Deployed Ubiquitously (EDU) 2011 Applications Due December 17, 2010

Part one of the application for the EDU 2011 wireless pilot program is due to the FCC this Friday, December 17, 2010. The FCC’s website will go down for maintenance at 3:00 PM PST, so plan accordingly if you are submitting your application online.

See the following USAC Link for more details: [ http://www.usac.org/sl/tools/latest-news.aspx ]http://www.usac.org/sl/tools/latest-news.aspx

FCC Issues Clarification to 6th Report and Order

The FCC has issued some clarification to its 6th Report and Order. Areas clarified include basic maintenance, dark fiber, gifts, community use, SPIN change procedures, technology plans and effective dates. We are currently reviewing this latest announcement and will follow up with additional guidance in the coming weeks/months.

See the following FCC Link for more details: [ http://www.fcc.gov/wcb/tapd/universal_service/schoolsandlibs.html ]http://www.fcc.gov/wcb/tapd/universal_service/schoolsandlibs.html