Shutdown is Not Impacting Education Operations or Funding

The federal government shutdown has no implication for the Department of Education, which was one of the agencies that received a full-year fiscal 2019 appropriation under a spending bill passed and signed in October.

While the Federal Communications Commission suspended its operations in early January because of the shutdown, the daily operations of the E-Rate program also continue as normal.

The Universal Service Administrative Company that administers the E-Rate program is not funded through the appropriations process. Employees continue to work reviewing applications, processing paperwork and releasing funding commitments.

The E-Rate compliance firm Funds for Learning (Edmond, OK) encouraged E-rate applicants and service providers to continue filing paperwork and inquiries. The deadline for many funding year 2017 non-recurring service invoices remains January 28. The funding year 2019 filing window still is scheduled to open January 16 and run through March 27.

The USAC encouraged applicants to prepare for successful filings by installing browser updates, with Google Chrome being the recommended browser for the E-Rate Productivity Center; establishing EPC accounts or updating profiles in those accounts and proceeding with a competitive bidding process for services of interest.

For more information on how policy and funding impacts the educational publishing market, check out Simba's report, Publishing for PreK-12 Market 2018-2019, visit https://www.simbainformation.com/Publishing-PreK-11362680/ or call 888-29-SIMBA.