The Schools and Libraries Division announced that on March 2 it will issue its first 2003 funding commitments for internal connections requests from applicants eligible for a discount rate of as low as 70 percent. The wave, totaling $385 million, was the largest of the 2003 funding year.
The wave marks the first time since 1999 that applicants eligible for a discount rate below 81 percent have qualified for funding on internal connections. Applicants who are just now receiving notification of their approved funding commitments for non-recurring services in 2003 will have until September 30, 2005 to complete these projects.
The latest wave brings the total of approved commitments for 2003 close to $2.1 billion. This year for the first time, the Federal Communications Commission authorized the SLD to roll over $420 million in undisbursed funds from previous years.
Meanwhile, the SLD is continuing to tally up the value of applications that were filed for the 2004 funding year. As of March 1, according to a Funds For Learning review, the SLD had tallied 93,149 funding requests for a total of $2.48 billion. (Requests are tallied when they pass Minimum Processing Standards and the SLD has matched up the applications with their certifications.)
