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This information was shared with me and I have used some of these services but was unaware that some of these services may no longer be available to us – Paula The R*TECS (http://rtec.org/) will no longer be funded. The services of SEIR*Tec (http://www.seirtec.org/) have been great and teachers have benefited from the technology applications from the High Plains RTEC (http://www.hprtec.org/). Regional Advisory Centers: On behalf of the SETDA Federal & State Policy Committee, I am writing to strongly encourage each of you to become actively involved in the federal Regional Advisory Centers (RACs) process that is currently underway. There are two things that SETDA members should do: (1) visit the RACs site (www.rac-ed.org) and actively provide input on technology challenges and technical assistance that is needed and (2) share this message with your district and local technology administrators and encourage them to do the same. In this process, the same message can not be shared too often – in fact, the more times that technology needs are identified, the more chance that they will become a focus of the Comprehensive Centers. This is the time for the technology voice to be heard. An informational brochure about the RACs is available at http://wwwed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/rac/rac_bro4.pdf. As you all know, many of the entities that you have come to count on in the past several years were not funded in next year’s federal budget. This includes the RTECs and the Eisenhower Math and Science Consortia. Congress has instead funded new Comprehensive Centers that may or may not include technology components based on the educational community’s feedback. The RACs have been set up to garner feedback from across the states and regions about what the challenges are that states and regions are facing and what technical assistance is needed form the new Comprehensive Centers to address these challenges. In talking with Jenelle Leonard at the U.S. Department of Education, there is a lot of concern that state directors have not weighed in on this issue. If technology does not come up consistently as a need, it may not be an emphasis in the new comprehensive centers. All SETDA members are encouraged to get on the Regional Advisory Centers website, www.rac-ed.org, and ma! ke comments. The RACs need to know what state education technology directors see as needs and what types of technical assistance you would like to have through these comprehensive centers. To this end, the Federal & State Policy Committee also recommended that SETDA contact the RTECs to obtain a copy of the outcomes of the RTEC meeting held in conjunction with the NLI. The Committee felt that the needs assessment conducted in this meeting would provide great talking points to all SETDA members as they provide feedback on the RAC Website – either on the discussion boards or during one of the online meetings. The outcomes of the RTEC meeting are attached. Please feel free to review these outcomes and to use as is or elaborate on any or all of the needs that are included. Again, the more that a need is reiterated, the greater the possibility that it will be addressed in the Comprehensive Centers RFP or eventually by the new Comprehensive Centers. eRate: The following is information forwarded from the USAC and NCES concerning school and library applications for the E-Rate program. The first item pertains to the current funding schedule and the second item pertains to problems that are being encountered with the NCES ID field. 1. Schools and libraries have until 11:59 p.m. ET on February 17 to apply for FY 2005 E-Rate funding, which runs from July 1, 2005, to June 30, 2006. Applicants qualify for discounts of 20 percent to 90 percent of the cost of eligible products (Internet access, internal connections, and telecommunications services), depending on the number of students they serve who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches and whether they are considered urban or rural. For more information, go to http://www.sl.universalservice.org/. 2. Some schools and libraries are reporting that they are having difficulty in completing their E-Rate applications when they left the NCES ID field empty or entered the 8-digit NCES private school code. USAC has been unable to duplicate the problems, suggesting that they have been corrected. However, they did forward the following information to NCES which NCES has asked us to share with you. **Public and private schools and libraries applying for E-Rate grants complete an electronic application that requests an NCES ID number. If the applicant cannot find that number on the NCES public or private school, or library, locators, the applicant can leave that item blank, or key in anything. It's an open alpha field. **The private school NCES ID code consists of 8 digits. The public school NCES ID code consists of 12 digits. The application will accept either number of digits, 8 or 12. **NCES has nothing to do with the E-Rate program and when applicants call NCES they don't have any way of helping them. All that NCES can do is to refer the caller to the E-Rate client service bureau described below. The Schools and Libraries Division Client Service Bureau is the best contact source for any user trying to complete the FCC Form 471, whether online or on paper. The Client Service Bureau is available during regular business hours, Monday through Friday, 8:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M. Eastern time. They can be contacted via e-mail using the "Submit a Question" link on the SLD section of the USAC web site at www.sl.universalservice.org, via fax at 1-888 -276-8736 or via phone at 1-888-203-8100. Paula Yohe Director Of Technology/Library Media Center Dillon School District Two 405 West Washington Street Dillon, SC 29536 Phone: 843-841-3604 Fax:843-774-1214 paula_yohe@yahoo.com --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Search presents - Jib Jab's 'Second Term' -------------------------------------------------------------------- All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law. To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL 3) SET LM_NET MAIL 4) SET LM_NET DIGEST * Allow for confirmation. 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