A Schools and Libraries Division spokesman said August 19 that the SLD has held up issuing new funding commitments for the 2003 and 2004 funding years until it resolves issues that have arisen in its transition to a new system of accounting standards.
Under a Federal Communications Commission order, the Universal Service Administrative Company was instructed, by October 1, to convert its management of the Universal Service Fund to the Federal Generally Accepted Accounting Principles used by most federal government agencies. Currently, USAC, a non-profit corporation, follows what are known as the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.
The spokesman indicated that in making this transition, USAC had encountered some issues that needed to be resolved by the FCC before the waves could proceed. The spokesman added that the SLD is continuing to review and make decisions on funding commitments while it waits for the matter to be resolved.
As of this date, a decision is still pending on $424 million worth of funding requests for the 2003 funding year. Last year, the SLD was able to wrap up the bulk of its review of 2002 applications by the end of June 2003. This year, the SLD has had more decisions to make as it has already approved $2.582 billion worth of commitments for 2003. The SLD committed $764 million for the 2004 funding year before funding waves halted at the end of July.
