On March 9, 2011, the FCC announced the 20 recipients of the E-rate Deployed Ubiquitously (EDU) 2011 Pilot Program and authorized the USAC to spend up to $10 million from the Universal Service Fund to study this potential new program. This pilot program was part of the FCC’s Sixth Report & Order that was released in 2010. The ultimate objective was to help the FCC determine and evaluate how best to use E-rate support to possibly fund successful off-campus wireless projects.
The 20 selected project applicants were:
- Aurora Public Schools (Aurora, CO)
- Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia Charter (Philadelphia, PA)
- City School District of New Rochelle (New Rochelle, NY)
- Clay Hill Elementary School (Jacksonville, FL)
- Foxfire Center for Student Success (Zanesville, OH)
- Greater Southern Tier Board of Cooperative Educational Services (Watkins Glen, NY)
- Haralson County Board of Education (Buchanan, GA)
- Katy Independent School District (Katy, TX)
- Michigan Technical Academy (Redford, MI)
- Mohican School in the Out-of-Doors, Inc. (Butler, OH)
- Onslow County Schools (Jacksonville, NC)
- Orleans Parish School Board (New Orleans, LA)
- Piedmont City School District (Piedmont, AL)
- Riverside Unified School District (Riverside, CA)
- Roy Municipal Schools (Roy, NM)
- San Diego Unified School District (San Diego, CA)
- Sioux City Community School District (Sioux City, IA)
- Southern Tier Library System (Painted Post, NY)
- Summit Academy Community School for Alternative Learners (Canton, OH)
- Westwood Community Schools (Dearborn Heights, MI)
After the one-year trial period, these recipients were required to submit a report to the FCC, describing in detail the lessons learned and any data collected as a result of the program. These results were supposed to assist other schools and libraries that might wish to adopt similar programs in the future.
While the FCC chose not to provide future funding for these types of projects when they modernized the E-rate program, I would hope that the FCC would have an obligation to release the final reports from the 20 recipients, since they were funded through the Universal Service Support Mechanism. School districts and library systems can still gain a tremendous amount of value by reading and understanding how these 20 applicants deployed their off-premise wireless solutions.
