The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau) has announced the E-rate category two budget multipliers and funding floor amounts for Funding Year 2020. In the recent Category Two Report and Order, the Commission extended the test period for the category two budget approach for an additional year through funding year 2020 and directed the Bureau to release the updated category two budget multipliers and funding floor for funding year 2020. The Bureau has announced that for funding year 2020, the category two budget multiplier for schools will be $195.63 per student and the budget multiplier for libraries will be $3.00 (for libraries with Institute of Museum and Library (“ILMS”) locale codes) or $6.52 (for libraries with IMLS locale codes 11, 12, and 21) per square foot depending on location. The funding floor will be $11,998.43.
To calculate funding, a school will calculate its Category Two budget by multiplying its Funding Year 2020 student count by the budget multiplier ($1.95.63) and then subtract the pre-discount amount of category two funding it received in funding years 2015 through 2019. A library would do the same using its funding year 2020 budget multiplier. For entities at the funding floor, the entity would calculate its budget by subtracting category two funds received from Funding Years 205-2019 from the 2020 funding floor of $11,998.43.
The 2020 category two budget multipliers and funding floor became effective on December 20, 2019.
