The Schools and Libraries Division announced that on November 18 it will issue funding commitments for the 2003 funding year totaling $213 million-the largest wave since June 30, when it first approved funding commitments for internal connections projects.
There will be no change in the threshold for approved commitments for internal connections, which will remain for the time being at 85 percent.
This latest wave, the 16th, will bring the total committed for 2003 to $1.468 billion, or just over half of the $2.7 billion that the SLD is authorized to commit for that funding year. (Actual disbursements are still limited to $2.25 billion.) The SLD is now approving commitments at approximately the same pace that it did in the 2002 funding year.
In the latest wave, the SLD will issue 215 funding commitment letters, averaging approximately $1 million each. The SLD is still reviewing internal connections for applicants that qualify for a discount rate of as low as 70 percent.