l Davis $1,329,679

l Granite $595,611

l Jordan $256,811

l Salt Lake City $203,276

l Alpine $101,795

l Wasatch County $0

What's next?

l The audit goes to the House Education Committee, then the appropriations committees for higher education and public education.

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By Jessica Ravitz

The Salt Lake Tribune

Utah school districts have missed out on as much as $47 million in federal funding by not taking advantage of a program to boost technology use in public education.

The Federal E-rate Program, instituted by the Telecommunication Act of 1996 and launched in 1998, was devised to bring Internet access to every public school and library across the country. It set up reimbursements or a discounted education rate - E-rate - for telecommunication expenses.

Nationally, the E-rate program distributes $2.25 billion to schools and libraries each year, but a legislative audit released this week shows that Utah ranks 44th in the country when it comes to tapping into these funds.

"I'm just shocked," said House Speaker Marty Stephens, R-Farr West, when he heard the presentation. "It's basically free money . . . There are millions of dollars these districts could have had."

From fiscal 1999 to March 2004, auditors said, Utah secured $46.4 million in E-rate commitments while the national per-state average came in at $93.9 million. And among surrounding Western states, only Idaho and Nevada fared worse than Utah.

Meanwhile, aggressive New Mexico educators secured more than $200 million.

The auditors attributed Utah's disappointing performance to a number of factors: School districts either don't understand how the system works or don't have personnel to make reimbursement a priority.

Impoverished schools - the state has 254 of them - aren't seeking out even more funds earmarked specifically for them. Last year, only 6 percent of these neediest schools went after the extra money.

Finally, districts are not secur- ing "end-to-end" contracts with service providers. Such arrangements would maximize their E-rate reimbursements by entitling them to funds for service, equipment and maintenance.

Davis School District is the only one in the state that has taken advantage of this. As a result, it increased its E-rate dollars by 68 percent, bringing in a windfall of more than $1.3 million in fiscal 2003.

"This approach has the potential to benefit virtually every district in the state," said Michael Peterson, executive director of the Utah Education Network (UEN).

Rep. Kory Holdaway, R-Taylorsville, who requested the audit, was thanked by committee members for bringing the issue to light.

Senate President Al Mansell, R-Sandy, proposed that the Legislature - with the help of UEN, the Utah Office of Education and auditors - keep close tabs on this matter.

"It seems to me if we're going to make any progress, we need to know who's coming through and who isn't," he said.

jravitz@sltrib.com