On December 15, 2023, the Federal Communications Commission released the final Eligible Services List (ESL) for Funding Year 2024. In the FCC Order accompanying the ESL, the FCC provides new guidance regarding school bus Wi-Fi, including:
- School Bus Wi-Fi Equipment – the ESL Order clarifies that “the equipment needed to make this service functional (e.g., antennas, routers, modems), as well as associated installation fees, are…eligible as a Category One service.” Bus Wi-Fi maintenance and operation charges are ineligible for funding, although the Commission notes that they may revise eligibility guidance in future funding years.
- CIPA compliance – the FCC clarified that bus Wi-Fi service is subject to CIPA, stating that they “expect schools to implement the same filtering capability for a school’s network provided through school bus Wi-Fi.”
- Duplicative services – the ESL Order clarifies that applicants “may enter into service contracts with multiple service providers, to the extent that some buses are served by one provider, and other buses served by a different provider.” Concerned that rural applicants may be more likely to traverse areas of service from multiple providers, the Commission allows “applicants with a rural designation” to “request funding for a solution that allows one bus to be served by multiple service providers.”
- Owned or leased buses – the FCC provides guidance that bus Wi-Fi equipment and service is eligible for school-owned buses, as well as buses that may be leased or contracted. The Order identifies “occasionally-used chartered buses, …municipal and city buses generally used for the transport of non-students, and other types of school-owned, leased, or contracted vehicles (e.g., vans and cars)” as ineligible for funded Wi-Fi services.
- Community use – the ESL Order cautions that school buses are not included as a part of the E-rate program’s after-hours community use provision, stating that they “permit applicants to enable E-Rate-funded school bus Wi-Fi connections during a school bus’s normal operating hours…or when there is a clear educational purpose for enabling school bus Wi-Fi connections outside of these hours,” but “require that applicants disable school bus E- Rate-funded Wi-Fi connections outside of these permitted uses.”
The FY2024 ESL also incorporates minor revisions proposed by the Commission in its initial draft, including a clarification that consulting fees not related to the installation and configuration of eligible components are ineligible, as well as a note that software necessary to operate or maintain Category One network equipment is eligible.
The FY2024 Eligible Services List may be viewed here.
