The FCC issued a Declaratory Ruling on October 25, 2023 clarifying "that the use of Wi-Fi, or other similar technologies that act as an access point, on school buses is an educational purpose as defined by E-Rate program rules and, therefore, the provision of such service is eligible for E-Rate funding."

Download the Declaratory Ruling

SECA has filed extensive Initial Comments in response to the Commission's Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) of August 9, 2023.

With the Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking adopted on July 20, 2023, the Commission makes changes to provide Tribal communities and other E-Rate participants with greater access to the E-Rate program. Specific updates to the E-Rate program rules include:

• Granting E-Rate eligibility to Tribal College and University libraries that serve as public libraries in their communities.
• Creating an exemption to the competitive bidding requirements for libraries seeking E-Rate support for category two services that total a pre-discount price of $3,600 or less per library per funding year. Category two services are the internal connections needed for broadband connectivity within schools. This step can help simplify the application process.
• Increasing the maximum category two discount rate to 90% and the category two funding floor to $55,000 for Tribal libraries. This step can raise the amount of funding for category two services that are reimbursable through the E-Rate program.
• Providing guidance on cost allocation issues experienced by applicants.
• Adopting a formal definition of “Tribal” within the E-Rate program to better identify Tribal applicants seeking E-Rate funding.
• Amending the Commission’s E-Rate program rules to add a Tribal community representative to the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) Board of Directors.
• Directing USAC to provide increased outreach and training to Tribal applicants.
• Seeking comment on ways to further simplify the E-Rate program for all applicants.

The order and press releases are available at:

 https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-bolsters-tribal-libraries-access-e-rate-program-funding-0

SECA has filed a joint letter with the Commission responding to the Tribal Libraries NPRM.

Download Comments

The WCB announced on March 3, 2023 that the E-rate program funding cap for Funding Year 2023 has been set to $4,768,413,261. This amount represents a 7.0% inflation-adjusted increase to $4,456,460,992, the annual cap for the program last year.

The WCB has adopted the proposals set forth in the Bureau's Public Notice seeking comment on the proposed eligible services list for funding year 2023.

Download FY2023 ESL

The WCB seeks comment on petitions requesting that the Commission permit the use of E-Rate funds to support advanced or next-generation firewalls and services, and network security services.

Comment Date: February 13, 2023

Reply Comment Date: March 30, 2023

Download DA 22-1315 Public Notice PDF

SECA has filed a letter with the Commission seeking for the immediate removal of firewall cost allocations for network security features and requesting that a NPRM be issued to address E-rate eligibility of other cybersecurity equipment and services.

Download Letter

The FCC released an order on September 19, 2022 granting in part a petition filed by SHLB to extended the service implementation deadline for FY2020 and FY2021 non-recurring services. The order establishes the following:

• FY2020: Waives and extends the service implementation deadline to September 30, 2023 for FY2020 non-recurring services to the extent that the applicant had previously requested an extension of the deadline to September 30, 2022.
• FY2021: Waives and extends the September 30, 2022 service implementation deadline to September 30, 2023 for all FY2021 non-recurring services.

FY2022 non-recurring service requests currently have September 30, 2023 as the service implementation deadline under regular program rules.

Download DA 22-976