The application window for the Federal Communications Commission’s $200 million, three-year pilot program to boost cybersecurity in schools and libraries will open from Sept. 17 through Nov. 1, according to an FCC public notice issued Wednesday.
District leaders looking to apply for federal funds from the Schools and Libraries Cybersecurity Pilot Program must fill out Part 1 of the FCC Form 484, providing basic information regarding their cybersecurity needs, experience and how they would use the pilot funds, the commission said. If selected, program participants will then have to provide more detailed information about their cybersecurity.
Funding under the program will range from a minimum $15,000 to a maximum $1.5 million, based on a funding formula that estimates a cost of $13.60 per student.
Schools and libraries may use the funds for securing their networks within four categories:
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Advanced or next-generation firewalls.
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Endpoint protection.
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Identity protection and authentication.
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Monitoring, detection and response.
Pilot program participants will also be required to cover a portion of the costs associated with the cybersecurity services and equipment that schools want to purchase with the program dollars.
When applying for the pilot program, a school or library may only file one application to participate — whether that be individually or as part of a consortium, the FCC noted.
How E-rate does and doesn’t come into play
The cybersecurity pilot is funded through the FCC’s Universal Service Fund and will be separate from the commission’s E-rate program.
Schools are not required to be former or current participants in E-rate — a federal program that helps schools and libraries pay for broadband access — in order to participate in the upcoming pilot. However, all schools will still need to ensure they meet the E-rate program’s eligibility requirements before applying, the FCC said.
If a school is not currently participating in the E-rate program, the FCC recommends that prospective applicants review the requirements for the cybersecurity pilot and file their applications sooner within the filing window.
Doing so will give the Universal Service Administrative Company, the designated administrator of the pilot, more time to verify applicants’ eligibility and their discount rate percentage. The Universal Service Administrative Company is a nonprofit that administers the Universal Service Fund under the FCC in addition to managing the E-rate program.
The pilot program is expected to be highly sought after, despite the limited funding available to schools and libraries. However, the FCC said in June that it does plan to study the impact of the pilot as it moves through future changes to the E-rate program.
While schools nationwide are grappling with limited resources to prevent and address cyberattacks, the education sector faced a record-breaking number of ransomware attacks in 2023, according to a recent analysis by Comparitech, a cybersecurity and online privacy product review website. Specifically, schools and colleges faced 121 incidents last year, compared to 71 in 2022.
