Yet Another Major FCC E-Rate Scandal Emerges Millions Going to Orthodox Schools -- Where Nobody Can Use Internet Tipped by cabana 
I've been writing about the dysfunction of the FCC's E-Rate program for a very long time. The system, which you pay into via Universal Service Fund ( USF) fees, is designed to deliver broadband and technology services to the nation's schools and libraries. Instead, like the larger USF, it's more like a slush fund, where money paid in frequently isn't tracked by the government, and spending accountability is minimal to non-existent. As you might expect, this has traditionally resulted in oodles of fraud by both carriers and schools. At various times, between 26% and 40% of USF funds have been poured into E-Rate, and the program has doled out more than $25 billion since its inception in 1998. The program has great potential and occasionally great successes, yet it js repeatedly marred by the fact the FCC historically has not done a good job tracking spending. For years now, the General Accounting Office (GAO) has issued an endless flood of reports on how the FCC should actually pay attention, and for just as many years the FCC has insisted they'd get right on that. With that as a backdrop, there's yet another E-rate scandal brewing in New York City, where new reports have popped up that sing an all-too-familiar tune. The New York Jewish Week has been running a series of stories noting how numerous schools (and libraries that in some cases aren't really libraries) are getting millions in E-Rate funds -- despite the fact they offer no Internet connectivity or computer use to students. The schools see Internet use as a "corrupting force capable of undermining their way of life," yet happily gobble millions in funds with the FCC napping: Recent graduates (of Yeshivat Avir Yakov) report never having seen — let alone used — a computer in their classrooms, and video of the inside of the Avir Yakov building shot within the past two weeks and obtained by The Jewish Week seems to support their accounts: not one of the yeshiva’s classrooms, public areas or designated resource rooms seen on the video contains a computer, or even a telephone. So it comes as a surprise that the approximately 3,000-student school has, since 1998, been allotted more than $3.3 million in government funds earmarked for Internet and other telecommunications technology. This of course has been going on for more than a decade, and the FCC quite simply appears incapable of getting its house in order. Scandals like this keep bubbling up around the country, and despite jail time and oceans of bad press, the FCC still isn't adequately auditing how your USF contributions are spent.
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 | | Comcast business is $60 a month Unsubsidized Comcast business is $60 a month. Why does any school or library need a subsidy? | |
|  | axus
join:2001-06-18
Washington, DC | Re: Comcast business is $60 a month Well, that's over $10000 for 15 years of service, but not millions! | |
| |  morboComplete Your Transaction
join:2002-01-22
00000 | Most schools have hundreds or thousands of computers and users. A basic Comcast business internet account will not support this level of use. We haven't discussed telephone needs...
Edit: I do not support the USF or E-Rate programs. I agree that these are slush funds abused by the providers and recipients. | |
| | |  skeechanAi OtsukaholicPremium
join:2012-01-26
AA169|170
kudos:2 | Re: Comcast business is $60 a month Perhaps it would if the instructors would stop watching porn and surfing eBay. | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | CXM_SplicerLooking at the bigger picturePremium
join:2011-08-11
NYC
kudos:1 Reviews:
 ·Verizon FiOS
| Re: Comcast business is $60 a month Is this a public or private school? I would strongly agree that all private schools should be inelligible for these funds... they are businesses after all and SHOULD get business accounts. Public schools, however, are already paid paid for by tax dollars so subsidizing services seems perfectly reasonable to me. The tax is hardly 'outrageous'; mismanaged obviously but the answer to that is to manage it properly, not get rid if it. Cut private school businesses off the corporate welfare teat and the fee will go down considerably.
The argument that 'communities should have found a way to make due by now' is ridiculous. That is like saying they should get rid of busses because the kids should have found other ways to get to school by now. | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Feds don't get all fees The "Federal Subscriber Line Charge" is not a fee collected by the government. Your local phone company collects that fee and keeps it. Phone companies put in the word "Federal" to deceive customers into thinking that it's some kind of tax. The only Federal involvement is that the FCC sets the maximum a phone company can charge.
»www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/faqs-telephone#slc
The 911 fee is a state fee. It seems to me most states put it in the treasury, and then spend it however they like, but I haven't researched it thoroughly. | |
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | CXM_SplicerLooking at the bigger picturePremium
join:2011-08-11
NYC
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| Re: Comcast business is $60 a month I certainly would welcome the fee being collected at the state level instead if it were used only for schools. Since it is also used for extending broadband into rural areas, collecting it at the federal level is more fair to states with lower populations where the telecom companies discriminate more.
If you think your public schools are making poor decisions then run for the local school board. That is what local government is all about. Perhaps you could also volunteer some cost saving measures in their network design. | |
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| | | | | | skeechanAi OtsukaholicPremium
join:2012-01-26
AA169|170
kudos:2 | Taxes from top to bottom are ludicrous, nearly as ludicrous as the amount of money governments local to Federal spend. | |
| | | | | | | | CXM_SplicerLooking at the bigger picturePremium
join:2011-08-11
NYC
kudos:1 Reviews:
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| Re: Comcast business is $60 a month said by skeechan:Taxes from top to bottom are ludicrous, nearly as ludicrous as the amount of money governments local to Federal spend.
Tell me how to opt-out of defense spending and I will sign up tomorrow  | |
| | | | | | | | | | | Re: Comcast business is $60 a month said by CXM_Splicer:said by skeechan:Taxes from top to bottom are ludicrous, nearly as ludicrous as the amount of money governments local to Federal spend.
Tell me how to opt-out of defense spending and I will sign up tomorrow The defense industry is an absolute cancerous plague that needs to be eradicated asap. | |
| | | | | | | | | | skeechanAi OtsukaholicPremium
join:2012-01-26
AA169|170
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| Re: Comcast business is $60 a month No kidding. The defense budget in 2001 was something like $300B. Now it is well north of 2X that. The US accounts for more than 40% of global military spending. Same gluttony is true for just about every inch of government, local up to Federal.
All this talk of sequester...not a SINGLE DIME is being cut by the sequester. They talk of layoffs, it's all lies. The sequester simply lowers the rate of increase. There should be 0 increase. Just to be clear, the sequester still means more money in defense spending, just not as much as the military industrial complex wants. It's insane.
Outlaw baseline budgeting across the board. Every department, every year should have to 1, justify their very existence, 2, justify their budget request. | |
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | skeechanAi OtsukaholicPremium
join:2012-01-26
AA169|170
kudos:2 Reviews:
·Cox HSI
·Clear Wireless
| Re: Tell me how to opt out of education funding While I'm no fan of welfare, public education leads to economic growth. An educated public is a productive public, and the taxes paid by educated workers more than pay for the government investment in their education.
The key is compelling kids to learn...you don't move up in grade until you pass a standardized exam. If you are 15 and can't read...you are 18 and still in 3rd grade. Make grade inflation a crime. Outlaw the teacher unions so that teaching is a true meritocracy and the best teachers make the biggest money (they can bargain for pay and benefits but can be fired at will by the district). Poor performing teachers have to go through additional training or they are canned and replaced.
Here in California, there no shortage of teacher applicants, fully credentialed, but because of the teacher unions, districts can't can bad teachers and make room for new ones. | |
| | | | | | | | | | CXM_SplicerLooking at the bigger picturePremium
join:2011-08-11
NYC
kudos:1 Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| Re: Tell me how to opt out of education funding While I agree with you on the need for good teachers (and to get rid of bad ones), the problem goes much deeper than a simple 'it's the union's fault'.
Districts have a period where they get to decide if a teacher is 'good' or not. They can be fired before they are tenured if they really are no good. The problem is that districts don't make these decisions based on the quality of education... they make them on $$$. A 'bad' teacher is one that makes the most money or is about to retire with a big pension. THOSE are the 'bad' teachers the districts want to get rid of. If they had their way, there would be no experienced teachers at all since they could constantly hire new young teachers at minimum pay. That is why teachers stay on during their tenure period (unless they are major screw-ups) because the districts don't want to loose cheap bodies in the classroom; they couldn't care less about the quality of education they are giving.
True grade inflation should be criminal but standardized testing is not the way to accomplish that. When you tie teacher evaluations to the standardized tests grade inflation is exactly what you will get... along with teaching to the test and a watered-down education. There is definitely a need for independent evaluation of the student's learning but a standard test is an inefficient way to accomplish that.
Being 15 and unable to read is a very common problem actually... not because of bad teachers but because of immigration. An immigrant from Germany who can't speak a word of English is expected to pass the exact same standard tests as all the other kids in his/her grade level. What do you think happens when you tie that kid's grades to the teachers' evaluations? | |
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| | | | | | | | | CXM_SplicerLooking at the bigger picturePremium
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| Hahaha, you actually want an uneducated lower class with no welfare but with the right to own firearms? Do you have any clue what a society like that would look like? The economy that you profit from would turn to shit very quickly.
How about we make tax spending decisions open to the people? You direct your taxes to defense, I will direct mine to education. | |
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| | | | | Well, if you're interested in a particular school or district, you can display the 471; Block 2, Item 7e shows the number of devices connected to the Internet. For districts, the number is cumulative, so you won't be able to see numbers for individual schools in the district.
For example, Yeshiva Avir Yakov, mentioned in the post above, claims to have:
3500 students
95 rooms with phone service
65 connections to the Internet
25 classrooms with Internet access
40 computers or other devices with Internet access
Displaying the Form 471 is a little bit of hassle, but here are the steps:
1) Go to »www.sl.universalservice.org/Util···blic.asp
2) Put in the first word or two of the school or district's name, followed by the % symbol.
3) Find the school or district in the list that comes up, and copy the Entity Number for the district.
4) Go to »www.slforms.universalservice.org···eck.aspx
5) Paste in the Entity Number you copied in Step 3.
6) Select FY2012 for Funding Year. (You can select an earlier year if you want older data. Most districts have not)
7) Click the "Search" button
8) Click "Continue"
9) Copy the "Form 471 Application Number"
10) Go to »www.slforms.universalservice.org···rch.aspx
11) Paste in the application number you copied in Step 9.
12) Leave the Security Code Number box empty
13) Click the "Display" button.
14) Click the blue "Block 2&3" button at the top of the page.
15) You'll see the number of devices connected to the Internet under Item 7e | |
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|  kontosxyzzy
join:2001-10-04
West Henrietta, NY | said by elizabeth:Unsubsidized Comcast business is $60 a month. Why does any school or library need a subsidy?
Because if a school doesn't buy the e-rate product they do have to pay for it themselves.
If they go through the e-rate program, they won't have to pay, and the e-rate sales team at the ISP/Telco will help them find the equivalent service which will be billed in the $6000 per month range. So the IT people for the school, look at their cost for simple business class service: ~$700/year or e-rate service: $FREE.
Then they go for the cheaper option. 
Everybody wins. The Gov't/FCC has helped a school get Internet access, the school gets a connection, and the ISP makes a sale.
And that's when there isn't even any fraud involved. | |
| | | Reviews:
·Charter
| Re: Comcast business is $60 a month It appears you're not familiar with how e-rate works. The pricing on most dedicated services is driven by a state contract to begin with, so schools already get better than commercial pricing. Then the e-rate discount percentage is based on the population that qualifies for free/reduced lunches. Those with high enough percentages qualify for more + additional funding categories.
Rarely does e-rate make a connection outright free. It also covers basic telephone access, cellular, and long distance, not just Internet service. | |
| | | | kontosxyzzy
join:2001-10-04
West Henrietta, NY | Re: Comcast business is $60 a month said by viper3431:It appears you're not familiar with how e-rate works.
Actually I think I am.
said by viper3431:The pricing on most dedicated services is driven by a state contract to begin with, so schools already get better than commercial pricing.
Yes, they're funneled to the high-cost/high-margin services available on the e-rate contract; even if a simple and cheap solution would be appropriate. This is exactly how you see stories here about small rural schools in WV using e-rate to get a pair of redundant $50k installed.
So exactly as I said, you get a really nice and expensive service installed even though a cheaper alternative could have been just as good at solving the problem.
said by viper3431:Rarely does e-rate make a connection outright free. It also covers basic telephone access, cellular, and long distance, not just Internet service.
In the public sector, getting grant money is seen as a goal on its own. Spending a couple thousand to bring in several thousand in grants is viewed by many even if there are no benefits realized from the grants. The size of the kingdom is still increased. | |
| | | | | Reviews:
·Charter
| Re: Comcast business is $60 a month Perhaps providers and competition are a little different in NY. In MO there's often not multiple options for dedicated high bandwidth access.
If an organization is being steered toward a product they don't need, don't blame the provider. Blame the idiot IT manager for not doing his/her homework and purchasing a product that is unnecessary. The goal of the business is to make money. | |
| | | | | | patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
kudos:1 | Re: Comcast business is $60 a month said by viper3431:Perhaps providers and competition are a little different in NY. In MO there's often not multiple options for dedicated high bandwidth access.
Level 3, Verizon Business/MCI, Cogent, TW Telecom, Windstream, will run metro business fiber anywhere if you sign a contract, plus the local cable co. All them have metro fiber in MO. | |
| | | | | | | Reviews:
·Charter
| Re: Comcast business is $60 a month This is getting OT, but I'm aware of all of this, and none of them pass a building I'm familiar with.
And yes, I already asked the local cable, 2 area telcos, and Windstream, and they all refused to build to that location because there were no other business opportunities near it. They (recently) all told me they just couldn't make any money off it. Period. Thanks to federal stimulus funding the building will be a Community Anchor and served with 1Gbps service before the year ends for little more than 2 T-1's now. | |
| | | | | | | | | | Re: Comcast business is $60 a month Or you have CenturyLink or Optimun that want several thousand dollars to build out a few hundred feet of fiber... in one case $15,000 for 90 feeet. E-Rate does have some success, but it is still all bureaucratic BS. I know there are a couple progressive states with smart leadership in IT looking to adjust things in that area... time will tell if it will work. | |
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| | I haven't read yet but... I can tell you what E-Rate does around here and its a lot!
E-Rate pays a lot of things for us, like internal connection maintenance, WAN, Internet, Cellular and wireline service. Also support of approved items but that we have lost. Also we are in danger of loosing most of our support as E-Rate this year really isn't helping those under 90%. You can still put in for it but we've already seem memos that say don't hold your breath.
This gets us not only the connection its self but equipment for that connection, servers for use of it (only approved items) and without it we would be a bad shape!
I do plan to read the article because I find it hard that this stuff is going on, not that it is impossible just hard. We get scrutinized on just about everything we submit and how we do it. Occasionally they check our numbers, filing and if we are in the window to get hardware, that we have it and that its actually in use.
Like anything it can be misused and abused but is is extremely needed! | |
| | patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
kudos:1 | Re: I haven't read yet but... Then put it up for a property tax referendum and learn really how important it is. | |
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See 9 replies to this post | |
|  jester121Premium
join:2003-08-09
Lake Zurich, IL | said by Mr Anon :Like anything it can be misused and abused but is is extremely needed!
Of course it is, everything in government is extremely needed. Hence the wailing and gnashing of teeth at the slightest hint of slowing the rate of spending growth or *gasp* an actual budget cut....
But this is Illinois, so I have no doubt we'll hear the standard refrain -- "if you don't increased taxes we'll make the children suffer, and furlough the cops and firemen (while of course the "administration" budget hums along normally)." | |
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See 13 replies to this post | |
| | | Sorry, actually have to work now. I know I can't change most people's opinions anyway.
Gotta drop the thread. | |
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 IowaCowboyWant to go back to IowaPremium
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA
·Comcast
·Verizon Broadban..
| VoIP services Many budget strapped schools are upgrading their phones to cheaper VoIP services that are typically cheaper than traditional telephone service (even with the E-rate subsidy).
As for the Orthodox school in question, sounds like a clear case of fraud. They think that the Internet and telephone has poisoned society but they seem to think stealing is ok.
I myself am Catholic and its against the Ten Commandments to steal.
--
I've experienced ImOn (when they were McLeod USA), Mediacom, Comcast, and Time Warner. They are much better than broadcast TV.
I have not and will not cut the cord. | |
| | | | | | Re: VoIP services said by IowaCowboy:As for the Orthodox school in question, sounds like a clear case of fraud. They think that the Internet and telephone has poisoned society but they seem to think stealing is ok.
I myself am Catholic and its against the Ten Commandments to steal.
Catholic or Orthodox Jewish, same commandment against theft. Very disappointing.
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MNSi Internet - »www.mnsi.net | |
| | Reviews:
·Time Warner Cable
| said by IowaCowboy:Many budget strapped schools are upgrading their phones to cheaper VoIP services that are typically cheaper than traditional telephone service (even with the E-rate subsidy).
As for the Orthodox school in question, sounds like a clear case of fraud. They think that the Internet and telephone has poisoned society but they seem to think stealing is ok.
I myself am Catholic and its against the Ten Commandments to steal.
when I was in high school they had VoIP based phones as long as I remember from 2005-2009 but yeah I went to High School in a City the Size of 300,000 plus citizens so the school population is around 3,000 students big enough to be a city of its own | |
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| | You just figured this now? WOW ... yes, I don't think this is much news or will surprise any New Yorker. Welcome to Brooklyn baby! | |
| | | | Re: You just figured this now? And that attitude is part of the problem(unless you are in on the shell game) you should be outraged that YOUR money is being stolen. | |
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| | Will it ever change??? Funny how the government abuse's OUR money, & how funny the people abuse the government, the bad part about it is, the Government knows about it, but doesn't do anything to fix it. That's why we owe Trillions to China... | |
| | | Welcome to Americas Welcome to earth. Now you don't worry about what we do with the money. We know what's best. You just keep working. | |
| | | No Access The issue many people forget, is that many rural areas STILL have no access to wireline broadband. E-Rate funding is the only way a district can afford the T-1's necessary due to lack of broadband infrastructure. If they could get a $60 a month connection that is faster than a multi-linked frame relay and without doing the paperwork that E-Rate requires...they would. | |
| | jester121Premium
join:2003-08-09
Lake Zurich, IL | Re: No Access said by teach121 :The issue many people forget, is that many rural areas STILL have no access to wireline broadband. E-Rate funding is the only way a district can afford the T-1's necessary due to lack of broadband infrastructure.
Then why are agencies in areas that HAVE been built up over the past 20 years still suckling at the E-Rate teat even though there are plenty of cheap, fast, reliable alternatives available?
Because it's "someone else's money". And in many states, there's an entrenched bureaucracy that manages the (slow, overpriced, shitty) public agency network and no one wants to rock the boat. | |
| | me1212
join:2008-11-20
Pleasant Hill, MO | It doesn't have to be wireline, a good fixed WISP will work fine. Yeah I know no everywhere has that. In those cases I can see where you could have a point, but then why are the places that DO have good wireline still getting the money? They should not. | |
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| | ugh I am a network admin for a library. We do not get Erate funding because it requires ALL computers to be filtered. Adult machines also. We want the adult machines to be not filtered.
It upsets me that schools and libraries that do not even provide internet at all are receiving funding yet we do not because we do not filter everything. | |
| | Reviews:
·Charter
| Re: ugh E-rate can also be used for basic telecommunications services like local, long distance, and cellular.
You could think outside the box and have a great (discounted) filtered connection for patron use and a separate gateway for adult users (non-discounted). | |
| | | | This isn't normal funding, this is fraud. Regular theft should also upset you.
Hopefully soon something will happen to this school... | |
|
 JimThePCGuyFormerly known as schja01.Premium,MVM
join:2000-04-27
Morton Grove, IL | Better audit those Amish schools too. Is any money going to Amish schools?
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| elray
join:2000-12-16
Santa Monica, CA | Yet another reason to cancel and refund the program Let the taxpayers keep their money and decide for themselves how best to spend it, rather than stealing it from them so a few politicians in Washington can play Santa. | |
| | | dumb question Why do schools need internet access anyway? Are all the students surfing the internet while in class or what?
if you are a teacher and you want content from the internet for your classes, download it ahead of time.
i haven't been in a school or juco setting for oer 10 years but i wonder whats going on. Are they all on facebook during class? is there any real learning going on? | |
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See 9 replies to this post | |
 DHRacerTech Monkey
join:2000-10-10
Lake Arrowhead, CA
1 edit | What? That makes no sense Let me start with a qualifying statement. I work for a public school district and we make extensive use of E-rate funding to supply infrastructure needed for student learning and acheivement.
Some facts about E-rate:
Erate DOES NOT PAY FOR END DEVICES: NO COMPUTERS, iPADs etc! So this article to suggest that Orthodox schools shouldn't be getting Erate when they don't have any computers is ludicrous. They obviously get E-rate for the things E-rate does do.
Erate funds two things:
1. Priority 1 funding: Provides WAN links to school sites. This can be copper lines such as 56K lines, Fractional T-1s, full T-1s, multiples of such, or Fiber (such as FIOS like services). This also included Voice Phone services to school sites.
Priority 1 funding is funded and awarded first and is the most important component. If all the money is used up here, the next level, Priority 2, isn't funded at all. This hasn't happened yet but is rumoured to be the future as more and more districts apply for Erate funding and the money gets used up.
Priority 2 funding: Network Equipment
1. Servers if they provide erate qualified services (things that make a student be able to access the network/internet: DHCP, DNS, AD DC). Erate DOES NOT cover file servers, etc.
2. Network Infrastructure Hardware: Routers, Core Switches, Edge Switches, Wireless APs and Controllers. Does not pay for Management Software and does not pay for any hardware not approved by Erate themselves!
Now Erate was paying for maintenance in years before, but now it is not and schools that managed to purchase overly expensive networks and services with Erate funding are finding that they cannot afford the Maintenance now that they have to pay all that themselves.
E-rate does cover whatever the base, default warranty the products or services come with. It does not cover any additional extended warranties or services that do not come with the product at initial purchase.
That's it!
Now nothing is free. Schools and districts apply based on the percentage of free and reduced student lunches. This can range from 99% on down. However, the latest from Erate is that the minimum funding will only go to those districts at 90% or more. That means it goes to the Districts with the poorest students. The rest simply don't get Erate.
That also means that traditional budget funding by local bonds, raising taxes, etc, is difficult for areas with depressed economies, etc., so E-rate is very helpful for these Districts that otherwise don't have the surrounding socio-economic means to fully fund their school improvoment projects.
Erate does have systems in place for applying for, acquiring and then auditing in place that is very strict and specific and does have to be approved at the highest levels before you can even get anything.
But there is fraud and waste, even with all that, but it is limited. No matter the rules there are always those that learn to game the system.
Hope this info helps!
Edited to add: Forgot about Maintenance and added a bit on that.
--
"No one will believe you solved this problem in one day! We've been working on it for months. Now, go act busy for a few weeks and I'll let you know when it's time to tell them." (R&D Supervisor, Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing /3M Corp.) | |
| | Reviews:
·Charter
| Re: What? That makes no sense And I thought I was the only one that can see the good this program provides. There's no denying that fraud will happen but it's not like we read about it every day. I can personally that the PIA reviews and auditing have definitely gotten more comprehensive over the last few years and that's why we are hearing about these abusers being caught.
It's not a perfect program but it really does help. | |
| | | | While the E-Rate does not pay for computers or phones, it does require that the applicants have sufficient quantities of end user devices to utilize the services sought. (See Item 25 on the Form 471.) So a school which has no computers in instructional areas cannot apply for anything but voice services.
It seems odd that Yeshiva Avir Yakov, which says it has 50 computers connected to the Internet and 225 rooms with a phone, received almost $500,000 in Internal Connections in 2011-2012, and over $500,000 in 2010-2011. A million dollars for a network with 50 computers and phone system for 225 phones? It strains credulity.
The E-Rate is a great program. But some applicants are abusing it. | |
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| | Do not. lump everyone into the general term of Orthodox. There are several different forms of Orthodox. When living in one of their communities you understand and know the difference and know that many of them have TV and computers and Internet. | |
| | | Sounds Like I Should Open A Library.... At my house! Lol. Those fools at the fcc could be supporting my retirement. But on a more serious note, the FCC should be helping give back to Americans in need with all that wasted money, or pay down our deficit. But instead they've been giving over 3 million dollars a year, for the last 15 years, to some greedy Jewish school that's flat out STEALING!!! | |
| | | Not with public money You want to start a "private" religious school, go ahead and get certified to open it hire qualified teachers etc. but do not think that you are entitled to public funds especially when you have no intention of using those public funds for their intended use. The funding of private parochial schools is or should be illegal
That being said, NOTHING absolutely NOTHING will happen here because too many rich and power people will make SURE that NOTHING will happen and the fraud will continue, THAT'S business as usual in New York, Brooklyn the Bronx, Manhattan and every other big city (New York and Chicago come to mind rather quickly). I would venture to guess that the FEDS have sucked enough tax money to complete build out an infrastructure for all the PUBLIC schools and libraries but due to their ineptness and criminal miss-management we continue to pay taxes and will continue to pay taxes. Once a tax is in place no one is going to vote to rescind it. They don't know how to say no to spending money that isn't there. | |
| |  TransmasterDon't Blame Me I Voted For Bill and Opus
join:2001-06-20
Cheyenne, WY
 ·CenturyLink
| And to think in the beginning When all of this communication stuff started, roughly 100 years ago, it was the US Army that controlled most everything. Of course it was mostly all RF back them but it was Herbert Hoover that set up what would become the FCC which was run by hard nosed engineers that if a radio station dropped an "F" bomb on the air the forces of FCC doom instantly landed upon them. Stuff like BPL would have been laughed out of the building. The FCC was gutted during the Reagan administration much of that engineering staff was gone. When it was discovered the vast amounts of money that could be had selling off what should have been rented and the political goodies that could be had because of this during the Clinton Administration The political suck-asses we have now moved in with their "what's in it for me" mind set thus we have the current FCC. Maybe it is time to give it back to the Army.
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I am quite sure now that often, very often, in matters concerning religion and politics a man's reasoning powers are not above the monkey's.
- Mark Twain in Eruption | |
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| | FCC - How can this group be so screwed up?? How is it that it seems everything that the FCC (or my state's PUC for that matter) is involved in is so damn screwed up? Constantly finding huge gaping holes where they are not performing their basic functions as an organization, yet nothing is ever done about it.
The FCC has responsiblities that affect huge sums of money for consumers and as in this case, other organizations (funded by consumers), yet they don't ever seem to get it right?
When is are we going to see something change with them so they actually work for the people, and for the betterment of the country as a whole? | |
| | | Errors in this piece Currently about 26% of USF is used for E-Rate, not 40%.
»transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Release···14A1.pdf
The E-Rate used to have a higher share, but since the E-Rate is capped and the other programs aren't, it's share of funding has dropped.
You refer to "oodles of fraud" that "keeps bubbling up," but the links you provide are frauds that occurred in 2001 or earlier. Please show us more recent oodles.
As for the "endless flood" of GAO reports, I can think of 4. Could you provide links to the rest of the flood? I'll agree that the FCC has moved at a glacial pace on reform in response to GAO criticism, but that criticism is not tied to fraud in general.
By the way, you missed another recent piece on Jewish libraries in the same communities apparently abusing the fund:
»forward.com/articles/170510/orth···subs/?p=
Can you be more specific on how the FCC (and USAC) audit practices are inadequate? I don't mean just pointing out cases of failure, I mean proposing how the system should be reformed. What accountability requirements would be more than "minimal"?
Can you give an example of a case where "money paid in...isn't tracked by the government"?
I think you have read news reports about people stealing from the fund, but have not actually ever applied for E-Rate funding. Because people who have been through the process thinks that the program needs more auditing. | |
| | | | | | | Re: Errors in this piece Thanks for the reply.
Some of your links in your list duplicated the same fraud. You can find a better list of people who've been caught defrauding the program here:
»www.usac.org/sl/about/program-in···nts.aspx
That list is also duplicative, so without going through and counting, I'd say we're looking at less than 40 cases of fraud since 1998. That doesn't seem like oodles to me. That's an average of less than 3/year, out of over 20,000 applications/year. If my Oodles of Noodles only had 3 noodles, I'd feel cheated. But I guess oodles are in the eye of the beholder.
The GAO reports were not all about how inadequate FCC audit practices are. 4 reports in 16 years doesn't seem like a lot to me, but again, I guess the endlessness of the river is in the eye of the beholder. Also, the GAO has repeatedly demonstrated a poor understanding of the program. Some of the reforms they propose would harm the program, not help it. In any case, USAC has hired an outside firm to review its compliance with the latest GAO report (from 2010: »www.gao.gov/new.items/d10908.pdf). It did take them 2 years to reach this point, though, so you're right about the pace of the FCC response.
"I think you probably somehow benefit financially from these funds." Guilty as charged. Unfortunately, there isn't anyone who knows firsthand how audit-rich the application process is, but has not benefited financially. If you want to hear about the program from anyone who's actually been through the application process, it would have to be someone who's benefited financially.
I can't believe I mistyped the last sentence. What I meant to say was, "Because no one who has been through the application process thinks that the program needs more auditing."
I'm not ignoring problems in the E-Rate. I just don't think fraud in 0.015% of applications is "oodles" or that 4 GAO reports in 16 years is an "endless river." From my perspective, the amount of fraud does not justify the current level of scrutiny. | |
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