Applications for the FY24-25 Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund Facility Grants are due Sept. 13. Here is the application, and here is where you can find more information.

An emerging story. “The Universal Service Fund is a $8 billion decades-old mechanism created by Congress in 1996 to support vital communications investments where the marketplace falls short: connecting schools and libraries to high-speed internet,” according to this FCC fact sheet. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that the current administration of the Universal Service Fund is unconstitutional, a decision that breaks with rulings by the 6th and 11th Circuits. FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel called the decision “misguided and wrong,” because it “upends decades of bipartisan support for FCC programs that help communications reach the most rural and least-connected households in our country, as well as hospitals, schools, and libraries nationwide.” From 2022-24, in North Carolina, the FCC says 3,022 schools (which seems high to me) and 242 libraries received $207,161,545 for broadband connectivity and internal connections, benefiting 1,738,327 students. Stay tuned.

Here is your playlist for the weekend courtesy of Jeff McDaris.

• Will teacher raises OK’d by NC legislature mean a pay cut? Here’s what CMS board says

  The Charlotte Observer | August 15, 2024

• ANN DOSS HELMS REPORTS | CMS board rejects last-minute plan to relocate a struggling site for immigrant teens

  WFAE | August 15, 2024

---

---