E-Rate to Support Wireless E-Mail, Internet CallingBy Andrew Trotter Twitchy-thumbed school leaders have a new reason to like the federal E-rate program: It will now help support their BlackBerry habit. The Federal Communications Commission has cleared the way to allow money from the $2.25 billion program of subsidies for school technology to apply to e-mail service for mobile, wireless devices, such as the BlackBerry, which are increasingly popular among administrators for keeping tabs on their schools while on the go. School users of wireless e-mail services on Palm TREOs and other mobile devices, including some cellphones, will also benefit from the FCCs recent changes to its “eligible-services list” for the E-rate, which the commission approved and posted in October. In another significant change, the FCC for the first time made Internet-based voice services that use school broadband networks and connect to regular telephone networks eligible for funding under the E-rate. Those services, known as interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, and offered by providers such as Vonage and Skype, are cheaper and offer more features than regular phone service, school officials say. Just last month, the 437,000-student Chicago school system announced that it was switching its entire phone system24,000 phones in allto VoIP. E-rate discounts will make the wireless e-mail and interconnected VoIP services even cheaper. The decade-old federal program collects fees paid by telephone customers into a universal-service fund that covers from 20 percent to 90 percent of the cost of eligible school telecommunications services, depending on the poverty level of the districts students. The discounts are available to all school districts that make valid applications. Other services financed by the E-rate program, such as the wiring of classrooms, are generally available only for the poorest districts. Hands-on Benefit The E-rateshort for education rategenerally supports direct classroom learning, such as by providing access to the Web for classroom computers. It also supports certain expenditures designed to benefit districts as a whole, such as telephone service. But by funding the e-mail service that underlies the BlackBerryor, say, the Palm TREOthe E-rate is now helping pay for something administrators can get their own hands, or thumbs, on. E-Rate Wish ListsThe Federal Communications Commission each year updates its revised list of telecommunications services and related costs that are eligible for up to $2.25 billion annually in federal E-rate support. The updated list for the 2007-08 funding year includes the following, with new or clarified items in bold:ELIGIBLE:Interconnected VoIP, or “voice-over-Internet-protocol,” services (such as Vonage and Skype) VoIP equipmentWireless Internet-access service designed for portable devices, (such as Blackberrys)Training for installation and configuration, as long as it is provided at the same time as, or soon after, installation of eligible componentsUniversal-service fees on schools telecommunications services Voice- or video-conferencing servicesDigital-transmission services, which enable schools to run distance-learning programsPaging services for bus drivers or teachers on field trips E-mail and Web hostingLong-distance and local telephone serviceInternet services, including access chargesInternal connections, including cables, hubs, and routers in a schools computer network.INELIGIBLE:Fees for universal-service administrationPortable wireless devices (such as PDAs and BlackBerry devices), including those that provide wireless Internet access to e-mail servicePersonal computersCellphonesEducational software and other contentTeacher trainingSOURCE: Universal Services Administrative Co.“All our administrators use BlackBerrys,” said Frank R. Buck, the curriculum and special education supervisor for the Talladega, Ala., city school district. He said that last year the 2,700-student district bought BlackBerry devices for principals and assistant principals at each of its seven schools, as well as for five district administrators. Their model, he said, has a built-in cellphone, a walkie-talkie feature, “push e-mail,” and capabilities that include an electronic calendar and storage of “all kinds of reference material.” Mr. Buck said he keeps on his own BlackBerry the codes and account numbers to control district equipment, driving directions to places in the district, and even “a couple of prayers, in case youre at a luncheon and they say, Dr. Buck could you offer a little devotional before our meal,a nice prayer for education.” The district has received E-rate discounts covering about 80 percent of the devices cellphone service, according to Doug Campbell, the districts administrator of federal programs. For the E-rates 2008 program year, the district will be able to apply for the