The Schools and Libraries Division announced that on April 27 it will release the first wave of the 2004 funding year, distributing 3,850 letters with $36.9 million worth of funding commitments for Priority One services only. The SLD said it would begin issuing funding commitments for internal connections services when it is able to determine at what discount level they can be funded.
Last year, the SLD began issuing waves for the 2003 funding year on approximately the same date. It was not until June 30, 2003 that the SLD began issuing funding commitments for internal connections from applicants with a discount rate of 90 percent.
SLD officials announced earlier this week that as of April 16, they still had 1,861 applications left to review for 2003. It could be expected that waves for 2003 and 2004 will alternate weeks until the bulk of the 2003 work is completed.