February 2001 Announcements

Please click on the topic below to view the most recent announcements:

Schools that choose not to use an actual count of students eligible for the National School Lunch Program may use only federally-approved alternative mechanisms which equate one measure of poverty with another.

One of the above federally-approved mechanisms is an income survey. Guidance on income surveys - as well as the other federally-approved alternative mechanisms - can be found in the Alternative Discount Mechanisms Fact Sheet posted in the Reference Area of this web site.

For Year 4 only, schools undertaking an income survey must use actual family income data for 1998, 1999 or 2000; in other words, the data used must not be earlier than 1998. Additional guidance for future years will be posted in the Reference Area at a later date.

The Schools and Libraries Client Service Bureau will be closed on Monday, February 19, 2001 in observance of Presidents' Day. The Client Service Bureau will resume normal operations on Tuesday, February 20, 2001 at 8:00 a.m. EST.

In situations where the original Service Provider (as indicated on the Form 471) has gone out of business or has filed for bankruptcy protection prior to processing BEAR payment(s) for applicants, SLD may now assist applicants in obtaining such BEAR payments through a "Good Samaritan" Service Provider. If you need such assistance, please call our Client Service Bureau at 1-888-203-8100 and indicate you need a Good Samaritan. The process will then be explained to you.

The Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) of the Schools & Libraries (USAC) reported to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that $5.52 billion in requested funding has been estimated for schools and libraries seeking E-rate discounts for Year 4.

Almost 84% of the over 37,000 applications were submitted electronically using SLD's web site, compared to 79% in Year 3.

The $5.52 billion is an interim figure, and not USAC's final demand estimate. This figure may change - up or down - based on completion of the data entry process.

When a final estimate is produced, it will be posted on this web site.

The Notice of Proposed Rule Making adopted by the Federal Communications Commission on the implementation of the Children's Internet Protection Act (CHIP Act) has been published in the Federal Register on January 31, 2001.

The notice can be found on pages 8374-8377 of the Federal Register, Vol. 66, No. 21, for Wednesday, January 31, 2001. It is available on the web in both text and PDF versions as the only entry under the "Federal Communications Commission" heading on the Federal Register web site.

Comments are due on or before February 15, 2001. Reply comments are due on or before February 22, 2001. Addresses for filing comments are available under the heading "ADDRESSES" at the beginning of the notice.

Click here to read a brief description of the Children's Internet Protection Act.