The Department of Education manages the allocation of line awards to the districts, independent and parochial schools and libraries. The size of the line awards have been managed (but rarely limited) based on a series of factors:

End user request.
Building Size (or student population).
Demonstrated need (using Solar Winds software).
Legitimate purpose (educational access to Internet)
Available funds (from RITEAF/E-Rate)

End user requests:
Eligible entities are invited to submit a request for the line sizes they want the department to award to their schools, libraries or districts as one task in the annual E-Rate application preparation. Interest in taking advantage of these subsidized lines has been steadily increasing as schools and districts integrate more and more web-based applications into teaching, learning, and administrative business processes. While the accompanying cost of end-user termination equipment and Internet Access may be prohibitive for a small number of private schools where use of Internet services is minimal, this subsidized resource has become the backbone of a statewide intranet connecting all of the public schools and many of the private schools in our state.

Today we find public school districts, especially, and private schools to a lesser extent, demanding ever increasing amounts of bandwidth. Centralized data servers, instructional tools requiring advanced video and audio capability, IP telephony, and video streaming and conferencing quickly outstrip what were once adequate network infrastructures. The intent of the state’s support for district infrastructure was limited to providing adequate access to the Internet. So the question that arises is: will the increasing demand for increased phone service and services that extend beyond basic Internet access exceed the legislative interest in providing support?

Demonstrated need (replacing building size):
Early on, at the beginning of the E-Rate program, we intuitively were able to assign a line to a school based on building size. It was a simple matter of recognizing that a large high school would readily exploit the largest line then available (T-1) whereas an elementary school might not be able to take advantage of the fraction of that same T-1.

Today, we use tools that generate a graphic representation of the real-time activity and/or a historical record of a school’s data lines such as illustrated in the graph shown at the top of the page, replacing the intuition we once relied on with reliable data. Upgrade requests can be quickly assessed for their reasonableness. At the same time, network anomalies, such as unexplained usage overnight or saturated lines as a result of virus attacks or network takeovers can be exposed.

Legitimate purpose:
The RITEAF legislation limits programmatic support to schools and libraries for connecting lines to access the Internet. This limitation also ensures that the services provided will meet the E-Rate program’s eligibility requirements to qualify for Priority 1 services. The E-Rate requirements for treating connecting lines between computers at various locations within districts as Priority 1 services is limited to basic conduit access to the Internet when provided by non- and registered telecommunications carriers.

For our purposes and when considering the RITEAF legislative limitations, the required access to the Internet suggests another test of reasonableness. Line capacity that exceeds a district’s purchased Internet Access, suggests that the funding is being requested to support the District’s WAN and not just Internet Access. The RITEAF program management supports as legitimate requests those where the requested line capacity between building sites does not exceed the line capacity necessary to reach the Internet.

Available funds:
For FY2008, the source of funding for RITEAF is a 26 cent surcharge on all eligible land lines in RI. Many government lines as well as all cell phone services are exempt from the surcharge. The legislature is considering a request for an increase to 33 cents. Such an increase would help fund the increased demand for Internet lines from schools and libraries. Ultimately, all telephone service users should expect to help pay for this important service.