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                            Before the
                Federal Communications Commission
                      Washington, D.C. 20554

In the Matter of                   )    
                                   )
Request for Review                      )
of the Decision of                      )
the Universal Service Administrator by       )
                                   )
Charlotte County Public Schools              )    File No. SLD-109845
Charlotte Court House, Virginia              )
                                   )
Federal-State Joint Board on            )    CC Docket No. 96-45
Universal Service                       )
                                   )
Changes to the Board of Directors of the          )    CC Docket No. 97-21
National Exchange Carrier Association, Inc.  )
                         
                              ORDER

          Adopted:  October 8, 1999               Released:  October 8, 1999

By the Deputy Chief, Common Carrier Bureau:

     1.   The Common Carrier Bureau has under consideration a request dated May 14,
1999 from Charlotte County Public Schools (Charlotte).  Charlotte seeks a waiver of Commission
rules to allow consideration of its application as timely filed within the filing window established
by the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) of the Universal Service Administrative Company
(USAC) for the second funding year of the schools and libraries support mechanism.  SLD denied
Charlotte's application for discounted services under the schools and libraries universal service
support mechanism because Charlotte's FCC Form 471 was received after the 1999-2000 filing
window closed on April 6, 1999.  For the reasons that follow, we deny Charlotte's request for
waiver.

     2.   SLD received Charlotte's FCC Form 471 on April 7, 1999, one day after the filing
window closed on April 6, 1999.  Accordingly, by card postmarked April 12, 1999, SLD
informed Charlotte that, because its FCC Form 471 was received outside of the filing window, its
application would be considered on a first-come, first-served basis along with other applications
received outside of the window.  In its May 14, 1999 filing, Charlotte requested a waiver to allow
its application to be considered as having been filed within the filing window.  Charlotte stated
that it mailed its FCC Form 471 on April 3, 1999, via the United States Postal Service, with a
guaranteed delivery date of April 5, 1999.  In support of this claim, Charlotte enclosed a letter of
explanation from the Postmaster of the Phenix, Virginia Post Office indicating that Charlotte's
FCC Form 471 was incorrectly prepared by the U.S. Postal Service, resulting in a delivery date
that fell outside of the SLD's filing window.

     3.   We deny Charlotte's waiver petition.  SLD is authorized to establish and implement
filing periods for FCC Form 471 applications by schools and libraries seeking to receive discounts
for eligible services.  For the second funding period, the filing window opened on December 1,
1998 and closed on April 6, 1999.  Although the Commission may waive any provision of its
rules, a request for waiver must be supported by a showing of good cause.  In this case, although
Charlotte faults the U.S. Postal Service for the late delivery of its application, we conclude that
this is an insufficient basis for waiver.  In light of the thousands of applications that SLD must
review and process each funding year, we believe it is administratively appropriate for SLD to
require applicants to adhere strictly to its filing deadlines.  Accordingly, we believe that waivers of
these deadlines should be granted only in very limited circumstances.  In this regard, the
Commission has previously stated that it would not grant requests for waiver based on claims that
copying machines, delivery services, or, in most cases, inclement weather or illness, were
responsible for an untimely filing.  Although unexpected, these circumstances are reasonably
forseeable and applicants should allow enough time in meeting deadlines to account for such
unanticipated delays.  Moreover, Charlotte had an alternative means for filing its application. 
The instructions for completing FCC Form 471 provide that the form may be mailed or filed
electronically and state specifically that applicants "are encouraged to complete and submit this
form electronically."  We therefore conclude that, under these circumstances, Charlotte has failed
to make a showing warranting relief and, therefore, its request for waiver must be denied.  

     4.   ACCORDINGLY, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to authority delegated under
sections 0.91, 0.291, and 54.722(a) of the Commission's rules, 47 C.F.R.  0.91, 0.291, and
54.722(a), that the petition for waiver filed May 18, 1999 by Charlotte County Public Schools IS
DENIED.


                         FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION  
     


                         Lisa M. Zaina
                         Deputy Chief, Common Carrier Bureau