MicroComputer Support

January 2004

In the MCS Spotlight: 
Developing Your District Tech Plan

Next year, 52 Nassau County districts and Nassau BOCES need to have new technology plans approved in order to qualify for E-rate and NCLB funding. With increasing concerns about fraud, federal officials have begun to do two kinds of in depth reviews: Audits and “selective reviews.” Nassau BOCES staff reviewed numerous plans this year that are outdated and would not likely pass these new E-rate audits or NCLB requirement descriptions.

For many of these 52 districts with expiring technology plans, major work should be done this year to produce a suitable 3 year plan by the June, 2004 deadline for submissions. The MicroComputer Support program  partnered with the expert team of Dr. Brian Preston, Nassau BOCES Supervisor of Quality Assurance and Evaluation, and Win Himsworth of E-rate Central, in offering a workshop on December 11 to all districts with updated information about technology planning issues. The workshop included reviews of planning requirements, checklists related to plan requirements, and examples of quality plans that meet E-rate and NCLB requirements.  Many of these documents are available on MCS web site Resources page. This workshop was developed in response to requests from member districts following the October NASTECH meeting at which Win Himsworth discussed new requirements for E-rate funding.