E-Rate News and Reminders
Good morning E-Rate Community, and Happy Friday Eve.
I want to share a couple of E-Rate updates and a reminder to register for training.
- The FCC Ends E-Rate Eligibility for Hotspot and Bus Wi-Fi Services – At the September 30, 2025, Open Commission Meeting, the FCC voted 2 to 1 to rescind the use of E-Rate funds, ending support for both off-premise Wi-Fi hotspot and Bus Wi-Fi services. In its decision, the Commission clarified that providing Wi-Fi or similar technologies outside of traditional school and library premises does not fall within the scope of the E-Rate program. Based on this decision, the FCC has released an amended FY2025 Eligible Services List, removing Wi-Fi services for school buses and hotspots as eligible services. USAC will now begin to deny all FY2025 funding requests related to these services.
- The FCC seeks comment on the proposed funding year (FY) 2026 Eligible Services List (ESL) – For FY2026, the FCC proposes to modify how eligible software and other remote configuration services are categorized in the ESL. This is welcome news indeed!
- Under current rules, items that include support, such as most equipment license renewals, which allow for remote-based services such as software upgrades and patches, bug fixes, security patches, and online and telephone-based technical assistance, must be requested under Basic Maintenance of Internal Connections (BMIC). For multi-year renewals, which are treated as a multi-year contract, a pro-rata allocation of the cost is required. This means a funding request must be submitted for each funding year on the Form 471 for the annual amount, even when the full multi-year cost is paid to the service provider upfront. This has caused tremendous confusion over the years. To alleviate this confusion, the FCC proposes treating all currently eligible software or remote-based services uniformly, allowing applicants to request it under internal connections with the equipment they support. Please plan to attend the upcoming training, where we’ll review all the details.
- Reminder to register for upcoming E-Rate training sessions. Each of the sessions will be repeated to accommodate schedules. To register, go to www.ohio-k12.help/e-rate-support/e-rate-events/. The three training sessions are:
- Beginners’ (E-Rate 101) session covering the basics of the E-Rate program,
- Experienced (veteran) applicants to learn about the recent changes and additions to E-Rate,
- Form 470 application walk-through (appropriate for both beginner and experienced applicants), highlighting any changes to the form, Category 1 and Category 2 bidding best practices, and a step-by-step application walk-through to make the process a little easier.
- Training for public libraries:
- While the sessions listed above will benefit both school and library applicants, I will also conduct sessions geared specifically for public libraries. If you are with a public library, go to https://events.library.ohio.gov/calendar/ceohio?cid=15632&t=g&d=0000-00-00&cal=15632&inc=0 to register. You will find sessions scheduled for 10/8 (Beginners’), 10/9 (Experienced), 10/14 (Form 470 Cat 1), and 10/16 (Form 470 Cat 2).
If you have questions or need additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely,
Lorrie
Lorrie Germann
State E-Rate Coordinator
On behalf of the Ohio Department of Education
lorrie.germann@education.ohio.gov
www.ohio-k12.help/erate
Office: 740-223-2420
Cell: 740-253-1153