Starting in Funding Year 2011 (Year 14) USAC's technology plan rules have changed. A technology plan is no longer required for priority one services. Starting in Year 2011, the USAC budget criteria has also been eliminated from their technology plan rules.

  If you can answer "yes" to each one of these questions, you should have a valid Technology Plan for E-rate purposes.

THE FOUR REQUIRED E-RATE CRITERIA:

1. GOALS: The plan must establish clear goals and a realistic strategy for using telecommunications and information technology to improve education or library services.

2. TRAINING: The plan must have a professional development strategy to ensure that staff know how to use these new technologies to improve education or library services.

3. ASSESSMENT: The plan must include an assessment of the telecommunication services, hardware, software, and other services that will be needed to improve education or library services. To put this rule in plain English: "What will these services do for your district and why are you purchasing them?"

4. EVALUATION: The plan must include an evaluation process that enables the school or library to monitor progress toward the specified goals and make mid-course corrections in response to new developments and opportunities as they arise. THIS MEANS THAT YOU SHOULD SCHEDULE FOR AT LEAST ONE MID-YEAR TECHNOLOGY REVIEW MEETING TO EVALUATE HOW YOUR TECH PLAN IS PROGRESSING. These meetings could be more frequent (quarterly), and could include the entire technology committee or just the Technology Director and another staff member.

TECHNOLOGY PLAN INCLUDES E-RATE ITEMS:
Your Technology Plan MUST include all requested Priority Two E-rate services and equipment. The Technology Plan should, at a minimum, briefly describe these services and a description why you are purchasing them.

TECHNOLOGY PLAN MEETS E-RATE DEADLINES:

• 470 DEADLINE: At the time we file your 470 Form for the upcoming year, your technology plan must be written for that upcoming year. The plan, at this point, does not have to be approved, but should include the four required components and also include all of your E-rate services for the proper time period. At the time of filing your 470 for the upcoming year (e.g. 2010 - 2011) your Technology Plan must be written for that year (2010 - 2011). Your plan does not have to be approved by your school board nor by the state agency yet, but it must be written by the time we file your Form 470 and must generally describe (and provide a budget for) what we are listing on your Form 470. We suggest tracking any updates to your tech plan in a format similar to the one posted on our web site (click here for that sample).
• 471 DEADLINE: At the time we submit your Form 471, you should make sure that you have enough revenue and expenses budgeted to pay for your non-discounted share of all E-rate services listed on your application.
• START OF FUNDING YEAR DEADLINE: At the start of every funding year (July 1st of each year) your Technology Plan MUST be approved by the appropriate state agency.