On February 11, 2019, the FCC released the Category Two staff report highlighting the benefits of how districts and libraries are able to make use of Internal Connections. The report found that the Commission’s goal in creating these budgets “have largely been met” and are recommending to retain the Category Two budget approach as opposed to the “two-in-five” year rule that proceeded this new regulation.
In arguing that the new Category Two budget rules are having the desired impact, the FCC staff quoted in the report a Funds For Learning’s analysis that “approximately 93% of the 21,125 applicants (i.e., school districts and library systems) that applied for category one funding in FY 2018 have also begun five-year category two cycles, and over 10,000 of these five-year cycles began in FY 2015.” The FCC staff is also recommending to the Commission some possible further targeted changes to the category two budget regulations.
It is widely anticipated that the FCC will release a Notice of Proposed Rule Making in order to get feedback from stakeholders on the specific changes they will be recommending. The FCC Category Two staff report can be viewed here.
