The Universal Service Fund for Schools and Libraries

The Universal Service Fund for Schools and Libraries

Beginning with the Communications Act of 1934, the concept of universal service, ensuring affordable and reasonable rates and access for telecommunications services for all Americans, has been a principal public policy goal of federal and state government. Under the Snowe-Rockefeller amendment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the FCC and the states were required to revise and broaden the universal service system to ensure as part of its definition, that schools, libraries and health care providers have access to advanced telecommunications services and the internet. Congress directed the FCC to convene a Federal/State Joint Board to establish rules and policies for a universal service program for schools and libraries.
On May 7, 1997 the FCC adopted the Joint Board's recommendation, creating a fund that would be capped at $2.25 billion collected from providers of telecommunications services. Schools and libraries would not receive free, but rather discounted telecommunications services as well as internet access and internal connections and wiring. The amount of the discount would be contingent upon the classification of whether a school was rural or urban and the number of children eligible to participate in the National Free Lunch Program. In the Fall of 1997, as directed by the FCC, the National Exchange Carriers Association created an independent subsidiary, the Schools and Libraries Corporation to administer the program. Since that time, the SLC has been restructured and merged into another administrative body, The Universal Service Administrative Company. However, the Schools and Libraries Corporation currently continues to manage the day-to-day operations of the program.
In June, 1998 the FCC issued a Fifth Report and Order on Reconsideration and made changes to the initial rules. The most noteworthy change was to cut the amount of funding available. For the first funding year, no more than $1.925 billion will be collected from providers and distributed in the form of discounts to schools and libraries. In the 1998 funding cycle, the Schools and Libraries Corporation received 30,000 applications representing over 120,000 schools and libraries requesting approximately $2.02 billion in services.
For the most recent changes to the program, or to check the status of the 1998 and 1999 funding cycles, go to the website for the Schools and Libraries Corporation at www.slcfund.org.



			The Universal Service Fund for Schools and Libraries
		Beginning with the Communications Act of 1934, the concept of universal service, ensuring affordable and reasonable rates and access for telecommunications services for all Americans, has been a principal public policy goal of federal and state government. Under the Snowe-Rockefeller amendment of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the FCC and the states were required to revise and broaden the universal service system to ensure as part of its definition, that schools, libraries and health care providers have access to advanced telecommunications services and the internet. Congress directed the FCC to convene a Federal/State Joint Board to establish rules and policies for a universal service program for schools and libraries. On May 7, 1997 the FCC adopted the Joint Board's recommendation, creating a fund that would be capped at $2.25 billion collected from providers of telecommunications services. Schools and libraries would not receive free, but rather discounted telecommunications services as well as internet access and internal connections and wiring. The amount of the discount would be contingent upon the classification of whether a school was rural or urban and the number of children eligible to participate in the National Free Lunch Program. In the Fall of 1997, as directed by the FCC, the National Exchange Carriers Association created an independent subsidiary, the Schools and Libraries Corporation to administer the program. Since that time, the SLC has been restructured and merged into another administrative body, The Universal Service Administrative Company. However, the Schools and Libraries Corporation currently continues to manage the day-to-day operations of the program. In June, 1998 the FCC issued a Fifth Report and Order on Reconsideration and made changes to the initial rules. The most noteworthy change was to cut the amount of funding available. For the first funding year, no more than $1.925 billion will be collected from providers and distributed in the form of discounts to schools and libraries. In the 1998 funding cycle, the Schools and Libraries Corporation received 30,000 applications representing over 120,000 schools and libraries requesting approximately $2.02 billion in services. For the most recent changes to the program, or to check the status of the 1998 and 1999 funding cycles, go to the website for the Schools and Libraries Corporation at www.slcfund.org.