Fiber 10 District Circuit Status

Administrative updates

03/06/2023

Battery backup systems were deployed most sites. Critical sites were prioritized. 

04/06/2022

No e-rate funding yet for FY 2021-22 projects

07/17/2021

Form 479 for this year is now due. 

07/24/2020

Form 479 for this year is now due. 

10/24/2019

The consortium has now reached "Funded" status for the 2019 application. 

10/23/2019

The consortium has reached "Wave Ready" status for the 2019 application.

09/30/2019

We are funded! Thankfully, our FCDL has been Issued and our FRN status is now considered as "Funded." We are proceeding with this project in completing the rest of the sites. 

9/26/2019

Good news!!!  The consortium has reached "Wave Ready" status for the 2018 application. This means that an application has successfully completed PIA and will be approved in the next funding wave which will likely happen soon. Keeping our fingers crossed,  we will receive the FCDL in the coming weeks. 

8/19/19

14 districts are now actively utilizing the new network.  To date, 37 circuits have been installed at area districts and charters.  Because of the ring topology, some districts that are not onboarding until 2020 or 2021 needed to have Zayo infrastructure installed in order to create paths to districts that needed to onboard this year.  Over 1500 miles of fiber is currently utilized between all of the district locations.  Needless to say, this was a huge accomplishment made possible by our districts and Zayo working together. We are already seeing the impact of this project with thousands of students utilizing the new Fiber 10 infrastructure. 

 E-Rate Funding

The consortium has not yet received our FDCL for the initial FY18 470 E-Rate submission.  Here we are, 17 months after our submission, and USAC has still not approved the application.  As mentioned before, we are at the last leg of the approval process, however the application continues to sit.  There have been no flags or signs there are issues with the application but we feel confident that the final approval will occur relatively soon. 

Even without funding, Zayo moved in an expedited manner to deliver circuits where possible to districts that needed to come on board in 2019.  Zayo accepted the challenge of delivering these sites by the end of June because they understood that, at the end of the day, this would impact students.  At this point, and understandably so, Zayo has put the brakes on any future construction until the project is funded. 

Needless to say, once the funding approval goes through, Zayo will continue with the rest of the fiber build.  If funding occurs in the next couple months, we expect the entire network to be built out by June of 2020.

 Over 10 new circuits were added to existing consortium members and new districts, charters, and private schools on our FY19 application.  The consortium will continue to grow each year as schools see the value a regional fiber infrastructure will bring.

State Match Signatures Needed Again

As the Fiber Consortium fiscal agent, around this time last year I worked with each of you to gather your Superintendent’s signature for the 2017-20 Classroom Connectivity Grant.  This was necessary for your internet circuit to receive the state match funds.  Almost 6 million dollars of the build is being paid by the state match for fiber special construction and the corresponding federal match that goes along with it.  These matching funds were used in the calculations to determine the low prices districts are paying to receive 10 Gig circuits – ie: the state match is very important to the project.  TEA is closing down the 17-20 Grant and rolling those funds into a new 2018-21 Grant.  

Therefore, we must again collect signatures from all consortium members.

8/5/19

Creating a region-wide fiber network will cost over 25 million dollars, with fiber construction costs breaking down to 70% E-Rate, 10% Texas state match, 10% federal match, and 10% consortium members. 

 State matching funds were included in the calculations Region 10 made to determine the price districts would pay for a 10 Gig circuit.  Without the state match, districts would have to pay almost three times the cost for the same circuit.  It goes without saying the state and federal match are critical to the creation of the network. 

As the Fiber Consortium fiscal agent, around this time last year Region 10 gathered these signatures from you for the 2017-20 Classroom Connectivity Grant.  This was necessary for your internet circuit to receive the state match funds.  TEA is closing down the 17-20 Grant and rolling those funds into a new 2018-21 Grant.  Therefore, we must again collect signatures from all consortium members.

This year we are collecting signatures electronically.  Region 10 is sending consortium member superintendents a form that needs to be e-signed and returned by 8/30.  Please 

7/19/19

Things have been busy on the Region 10 Fiber Network front.  14 districts are now actively utilizing the new network.  To date, 37 circuits have been installed at area districts and charters.  Because of the ring topology, some districts that are not onboarding until 2020 or 2021 needed to have Zayo infrastructure installed in order to create paths to districts that needed to onboard this year.  Over 1500 miles of fiber is currently utilized between all of the district locations.  Needless to say, this was a huge accomplishment made possible by our districts and Zayo working together. We are already seeing the impact of this project with thousands of students utilizing the new Fiber 10 infrastructure. 

 E-Rate Funding

The consortium has not yet received our FDCL for the initial FY18 470 E-Rate submission.  Here we are, 16 months after our submission, and USAC has still not approved the application.  As mentioned before, we are at the last leg of the approval process, however the application continues to sit.  There have been no flags or signs there are issues with the application, but there are political issues at the federal level that we feel are slowing the process.  A group of CTOs from several ESCs are planning a trip to meet with the FCC in order to  

Even without funding, Zayo moved in an expedited manner to deliver circuits where possible to districts that needed to come on board in 2019.  Zayo accepted the challenge of delivering these sites by the end of June because they understood that, at the end of the day, this would impact students.  At this point, and understandably so, Zayo has put the brakes on any future construction until the project is funded.  Needless to say, once the funding approval goes through, Zayo will continue with the rest of the fiber build.  If funding occurs in the next couple months, we expect the entire network to be built out by June of 2020.

 3/27/19

Even though the consortium has not yet been funded, we are moving forward with efforts to get the priority July 2019 districts operational by July 1.  David is working with Zayo and districts who have indicated they would like to onboard this July to ensure IA services will be available by that time.

2/28/19

Project Manager

For those of you who haven’t worked with him yet, we welcome David Mendez to the Region 10 team serving as the project manager for the fiber consortium.  He comes with years of experience as a technology director in education.  David will serve as your primary point of contact going forward.

E-Rate Funding

The consortium has not yet received an FDCL (basically funding for the project) from USAC.  The project has passed all of the various fiber reviews and is in the final stage, Special Compliance Review.  We expect to get an update in the next day or so from USAC to get a better understanding of which wave of funding we will be included.  Even though the approval for large fiber consortiums across the state has been slower than expected (other Regions have experienced the same slow review process), we are confident funding will come in the next month.

Buildout Information

Buildout of the entire network is expected to be complete by May of 2020.  Based on updated Zayo engineering and information gathered from the site walks, Zayo has determined that a few circuits we wanted operational by July 1 will probably not be ready until sometime later that month. This is partly due to the length and complexity in reaching certain districts in addition to the aforementioned time it has taken USAC to process the large consortium funding requests.  

All consortium districts will receive an email today with the present status of your circuit.  We want to ensure you are covered in the event approval of the project is further delayed or there are difficulties with the build to your site.  Every district desiring a July 1, 2019 delivery date has unique requirements concerning your FY19 E-rate submission, but there are a number of ways you may deal with the upcoming 471 filing deadline.  Either work with your current provider to establish a month to month agreement or sign an additional one year agreement (contingent on the funding and circuit availability of the consortium).  If you do sign a new contract, please do not make it longer than a one year as the entire network will be available to all districts by May 2020.  

Thank you for being a part of this project.  The final touches are being made to a website we created to convey the latest information about Fiber 10.  We will hold a Technology Leader roundtable in April – one topic of discussion will center around envisioning ways to leverage the new network.

Please reach out to David Mendez (972-348-1172) or Brent with any questions.

11/7/18

We are reaching out to all consortium districts to schedule site walks.

A Region 10 employee will accompany representatives from Zayo Group as they work with you to determine the best route for the fiber to enter your building and get to your NOC.  Zayo is working on engineering and permitting for each of the circuits.

 The site walk requires you or your technical representative to be available at the new circuit location

• Each site walk should take less than 45 minutes

• Multiple site walks are being performed each day.  Your site walk time listed below could vary plus or minus 30 minutes.  We will call you on our way to your site. If comfortable giving it, please include your cell phone number.  If another member of your team will be the point of contact for the site walk, please include their contact info.