Please see the attached Category 2 Budget Report. You may want to note the following from the larger document:
Recommendations. We recommend that the Commission retain the category two
budget approach. Given the improvements that the category two budget approach has shown over the two-in-five rules, the Bureau does not recommend a return to the two-in-five rules approach. The Commission established five-year category two budgets to make
funding for internal connections more equitable, predictable, and more broadly available. It did so in recognition of the importance of internal connections, particularly robust Wi-Fi networks, the role they play in enhancing educational opportunities for
students and library patrons, and the potential for these networks to close the digital divide. The Bureau’s review of the data from the first five-year category two budget cycle shows that the Commission’s goals in creating these budgets have largely been
met.
Further, we recommend that the Commission consider some targeted changes to the budgets moving forward such as an increase in the funding
floor, to the extent that it finds that insufficient funding is deterring entities at the funding floor and rural libraries from participating. These recommendations are supported by the data the Bureau reviewed and are also consistent with the Public Notice
comments.
We await a final decision from the Commission, whereas the commissioners will likely adopt or adopt with some possible changes, the recommendations as written.
Joe Polasek, MDE E-Rate Coordinator & Sonya Norris, LM E-Rate Coordinator
Sonya Schryer Norris
Library Consultant
Library of Michigan
Michigan Department of Education
517-335-1498
https://michigan.gov/libraryofmichigan