Fast Report
FCC proposes changes to E-rate
• The Federal Communications Commission has proposed expanding the types of services eligible for discounts under the E-rate.
If the rule is finalized, districts could use the E-rate for filtering software, text messaging, a broader classification of basic telephone service, firewall service, antivirus and anti-spam software, scheduling services, telephone broadcast messaging, and certain wireless Internet access applications.
The rules also seek comment on whether voice over Internet protocol, which was added in 2007, should continue to be eligible for E-rate funding.
The proposed rules were published in the Federal Register Aug. 19, and public comments are due Sept. 18. NSBA is reviewing the rules and has not yet taken an official position.
The $2.5 billion-a-year E-rate program was created in 1988 to provide discounts on telecommunications services to schools and libraries.
NSBA supports Florida suit
• NSBA supports an appeal of a Florida trial court ruling in a case that challenges two state ballot initiatives that would be harmful to public education.
Ford v. Browning was filed by several citizens, including the president of the Florida School Boards Association (FSBA). It argues that the state’s Taxation and Budget Reform Commission exceeded its authority in proposing a ballot measure to remove language from the state Constitution prohibiting state aid to sectarian institutions and require 65 percent of school funding to be spent on classroom instruction.
The trial court ruled that the commission had the authority to put these measures on the ballot even though they don’t concern state revenue or budgetary processes.
An appeals court was scheduled to hear the case Sept. 8.
“Measures that allow the diversion of tax dollars away from public education to private institutions that are not subject to the same academic, operational, and accountability standards as public schools do not serve the best interests of schoolchildren,” NSBA Executive Director Anne L. Bryant wrote to FSBA in support of the appeal.
“Simplistic proposals like mandating 65 percent of school funds be spent ‘in the classroom’ have the gloss of reform but in most cases are meaningless because they address things school boards already are doing,” Bryant said.
“Simplistic, blanket proposals like the ‘65 percent solution’ undermine the efforts of school boards to provide the highest-quality instruction to our students,” she added.
Major building plan proposed for New Orleans
• The Orleans Parish School Board and the Recovery School District announced a $1.7 billion, 20-year plan in August to renovate dozens of schools and close others.
The first phase of the plan calls for $685 million for the renovation or construction of 28 schools. Funding would primarily come from federal flood recovery money.
Among the proposed projects in the first phase are citywide, career- focused high schools connected with a NASA facility and the Audubon Institute’s Center for Research of Endangered Species. Other citywide high schools would have international and maritime/military themes.
About 24 existing schools would be closed. Even before Hurricane Katrina, the plan says, school capacity far exceeded enrollment.
The plan still must be approved by the Orleans Parish school board and the state board of elementary and secondary education, which is overseeing the recovery district.