E-Rate Program

Contact Information

Susan Tenkhoff
E-Rate & Emergency Connectivity Fund Coordinator
360-878-4701

The E-Rate discount program lowers the cost of Internet access, telecommunication services, and network data services for schools and libraries. 

E-Rate Training & Materials

USAC Training Materials

E-Rate Discounts

E-Rate discounts for all schools are based on their shared, district-wide discount, which is calculated based on the percentage of students eligible for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) (or other qualifying methods for determining low-income student populations) and the Urban or Rural designation of the district. 

OSPI has created a spreadsheet that indicates the enrollment and eligibility data for each school, along with each school's Urban or Rural status, State School Code, and USAC-provided Billed Entity Numbers (BENs). This school-level data is then rolled up to create the district-wide discounts. For each district with more than 50% of their schools listed as Rural, the entire district is considered Rural. All other districts are considered Urban. Once the district-wide eligibility % and the Urban/Rural status are determined, OSPI uses USAC's Discount Matrix to determine the district-wide discount.

OSPI creates a ‘valid file’ annually, that is shared with USAC to use to validate discounts on submitted E-rate applications. For the 2024–25 fund year, OSPI began with the data from October 31, 2021 Child Nutrition reporting, then worked with districts to ensure that the data was accurate, and in some cases utilized newer, corrected data.

For the upcoming 2025–26 fund year, OSPI plans to submit this same data to USAC for use when reviewing applications – with only a few minor updates as needed. View the Draft E-Rate 25–26 Valid File, a draft of the valid file that will be sent to USAC for use in reviewing the Fund Year 2025 applications (for services received between 7/1/25 and 6/30/26). Since E-Rate Program rules allow applicants to utilize data for two years, OSPI will create a new valid file based on the October 31, 2024 data in 2025, as we prepare for the 2026–27 fund year. 

You will notice that some schools are listed with 0 students. This does not make them ineligible for E-Rate; it simply means that the students at those locations are already captured elsewhere in the district, so listing them at these sites would allow them to be double-counted. There is absolutely no issue with listing individual schools in EPC with 0 students, as the district-wide calculations will still be accurate.

As long as the discount listed on the valid file matches the discount calculated in EPC, there should be no issues during application review. If you receive entity or discount validation questions from USAC, please share them with OSPI so that we can work with USAC to make sure that reviewers are using the current valid file in their reviews.

If you have questions about the valid file, or anything else related to E-rate, please reach out to Susan Tenkhoff or Kristen Wallach for assistance.

Eligible Services

SPIN Number & NCES Code

District Technology Plans

E-Rate no longer requires a district technology plan for any funding category, and there are no state or federal requirements for districts to have a technology plan. However, if a district would still like to have a state-approved technology plan, that option is still available through OSPI. Interested districts must submit an Intent to File form to OSPI and submit their plan for approval.

Technology Plan Templates

If you did not use the 2019-2022 District Technology Plan Template to develop your district technology plan, use the 2019-2022 District Technology Plan Index to organize the content in your plan.

The district school board must approve your technology plan first and document their approval in a letter.

Send completed forms and board approval to:

ATTN: Bre Urness-Straight, Educational Technology
Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
PO Box 47200
600 Washington Street SE
Olympia, WA 98504-7200