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Tuesday, February 01, 2000
By Eleanor Chute, Post-Gazette Education Writer
Third in a four-part series
Its creators say the "E" in the federal E-rate technology program doesn't really stand for anything. Not "Electronic" as some people believe, and not "Education."
And, as Dan McConachie would tell you, definitely not "Easy."
Applying to the E-rate program, which pays for schools and libraries to access the Internet, was the toughest process that McConachie, Pittsburgh Public Schools director of general services, has had to deal with in 28 years.
Not only was the paperwork staggering, he said, but the deadlines and rules kept changing.
Sure, the district was allotted $3 million in the program's first year, and about $2.3 million the second year. But they lost out on about $360,000 because of technicalities and confusion over regulations, school officials said.
Some libraries, which also are eligible for the discounted technology rates, also had difficulty.
Dorothy Haas, assistant director at the Carnegie Library of McKeesport, was in charge of filling out the E-rate applications the first year of the program. She had to send in one form three times before it was properly recorded by E-rate officials.
"In the beginning, [the E-rate program] was understaffed," said Haas. "I think that was their main problem, so a tremendous backlog built up."
However, she added that the process recently has "become more streamlined and easier to do as the program has matured."
But here's another glitch: E-rate funding has lagged behind spending, so schools typically have to put up their own money first and hope for reimbursement later. Halfway through the second year of E-rate, the Pittsburgh school district still doesn't have all of its first-year money or any of its second-year money. Last month, school officials applied for another $2.5 million.
The program, run by the Federal Communications Commission, helps to pay for Internet access, phone bills and some equipment such as wiring and servers, but not computers.
More applications are being filed every year, even though some applicants have found the program cumbersome, time-consuming and difficult to understand.
And hard to turn down.
"We can't live without it," said Elbert Yaworski, director of the Electronic Information Network, which electronically connects local libraries and provides Internet service and electronic references.
The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, which hosts the EIN, was awarded $630,725 in the first year and $997,766 in the second and has applied for about $2.2 million in the third year.
When that kind of money is available, said Julie Tritt of the Pennsylvania Department of Education's technology office, schools and libraries almost have no choice but to take advantage of it.
"When school board members, superintendents and community members realize Pennsylvania has gotten over $100 million in this program in two years, they'll look at their schools and say, 'Did you apply for this?' " she said.
"If they didn't, they'll want to hear a reason better than, 'It was going to take me too many hours to apply."'
The Sto-Rox School District hasn't received any E-rate money yet, but officials hope to succeed with the district's recent application for about $42,000.
"To this district, any money is important. I find a nickel on the street, it's important," said Paul Crawford, director of administrative services for Sto-Rox.
Some E-rate veterans, however, might say that finding money on the street would be easier than navigating the E-rate maze. For instance, the Pittsburgh school district's $360,000 loss included about $111,000 to pay for wiring at 13 schools.
The E-rate program refused to reimburse the district for the wiring because school officials had changed contractors to save money. District officials say they couldn't get an answer from the E-rate program about whether they were allowed to change contractors. So they went ahead with the work - and then found out it wasn't permitted.
School officials were especially frustrated because the new contractor's rates were lower. "That's the thing we can't understand. It was just done cheaper, and we got penalized for that," said John Walluk, district director of facilities.
As Tritt pointed out, E-rate rules "are very strict. Changing service providers is one of them. It's a no-no. Whoever you brought to the dance is who you have to come home with."
The district lost another $250,000 in reimbursement for phone charges. The E-rate program rejected that claim because it said the bill included pay phone charges, which aren't covered by the E-rate. McConachie argued that the bill did not include pay phone charges, but the district's appeal arrived too late to be considered.
City school officials have been thwarted by other E-rate regulations, including the rule that jobs must be bid out early in the year because of early application deadlines. After hurrying that process, they then wait for work to begin because the E-rate won't pay for work started before July 1.
With the deadline moved up to January this time, Pittsburgh school officials were able to apply for wiring for only 12 of about 30 schools that need to be wired because, they said, there wasn't enough time to do all of the design work.
Rick Wertheimer, city school district technology coordinator for instruction, said the district will file for the other schools and hope there's some money left for late applications. Either way, the district plans to complete its technology plan, Wertheimer said. While no figures are available on the number of rejected E-rate applications, Tritt estimated a quarter had at least part of their application rejected in the first year.
On the other hand, about $51 million was awarded the first year to 380 of Pennsylvania's 501 school districts as well as 296 nonpublic schools, 24 intermediate units and 261 libraries and library consortia.
In the second year, about $55.5 million was awarded. Allocations haven't been made for the third year. The Carnegie submitted E-rate requests covering 70 libraries in the first and second years and 82 library sites for the third year on behalf of the EIN.
This year's application also includes money to help pay for what's called the "I-net," which would connect many public institutions to each other and would make Internet access at libraries 100 times faster. Digital video libraries also would be possible. The application also includes charges for phone and Internet access services as well as some other equipment.
In addition to E-rate-subsidized services they receive through the Electronic Information Network, some libraries have filed their own E-rate applications to cover their phone bills.
Jo Ellen Kenney, director of the Carnegie Library of McKeesport, said her library each year has received discounts on telephone bills. If its recent application is granted, it will bring the three-year total to $5,679.
In Penn Hills, public library Director Ed Mandell said it wasn't worth it for them to apply separately for their phone bills. He said the phone charges are intermingled with the municipality's phone bill, making it difficult to meet E-rate bidding requirements. He said he figured the amount involved was "minuscule," perhaps $200.
The Pittsburgh school district was in a good position to take advantage of E-rate because it had just approved a $25 million, three-year technology plan. This included wiring about 30 buildings a year, adding routers and servers and purchasing more phone and Internet service, all which can be partially reimbursed by the E-rate.
Pittsburgh schools' potential reimbursement rate, which is based on the number of low-income students, ranges from 60 percent to 90 percent, depending on the building. The systemwide rate is 76 percent.
Some schools have simpler applications.
Nativity School in South Park, for example, qualified for a 40 percent reimbursement and received $848 in the first year of the E-rate. Its initial funds decreased the school's phone bill enough to buy one computer, said Marian Wilson, principal of the middle and upper levels.
She estimated she spent about six hours figuring out how to apply, but said her task was easier because she was dealing with phone and Internet charges, not wiring and equipment as Pittsburgh schools did.
Duquesne City School District received about $189,000 for the first year.
"The majority of the money was spent for building our computer network here," said Business Manager Gary Matta. Without E-rate help, he said, "We would never have put in that type of computer network."
Among the first on the Internet when the E-rate Web site opened for business in its first year was Joseph Marrone, technology director in the Quaker Valley School District.
He came to work at 2 and 3 in the morning just to get onto the overloaded Web site. He filed applications repeatedly when the first one wasn't received or the rules changed. "We devoted a ton of time to this," said Marrone.
But when the awards came out that first year, Quaker Valley was left out. Somewhere along the line, because the district received conflicting answers to its questions, a deadline for a refiling was missed. Marrone figures the district lost about $16,000.
For the second year, Quaker Valley didn't enter the fray quite so early, leaving others to work out some of the bugs. It was awarded $110,289, of which it expects to spend $70,000. It also has applied for the third year.
"It's a great concept. It was just too rushed and not well enough planned out for implementation," said Marrone.
"It's a learning process on our side and on their side."
Betty Green of Morningside works at a computer at the Squirrel Hill branch of Carnegie Library. (Douglass Oster, Post-Gazette) 