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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       )
                                   )
Lansingburgh Central School District         )    File No. SLD-109845
Troy, New York                     )
                                   )
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 12, 1999      Released:  October 12, 1999

By the Common Carrier Bureau:

     1.   This Order denies a Letter of Appeal filed May 16, 1999 by Lansingburgh Central
School District (Lansingburgh).  Lansingburgh seeks a waiver of the deadline for filing FCC Form
471 requests with the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD) of the Universal Service
Administrative Company for the 1999-2000 funding year.  For the second funding year, the filing
window opened on December 1, 1998 and closed on April 6, 1999.

     2.   In its appeal, Lansingburgh concedes that its FCC Form 471 application, which
eligible schools and libraries must file in order to request discounts for eligible services, was not
received by the SLD by the April 6, 1999, 11:59 p.m. EST deadline, but rather was received
shortly after 8:00 a.m. on April 7, 1999.  Lansingburgh requests that, given the limited resources
of its school district and the need to avail its students of technology, the Commission grant it a
waiver of the deadline established by the SLD for submission of Lansingburgh's FCC Form 471
application.

     3.   We deny Lansingburgh's waiver request.  The 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.  Although the Commission may waive any provision of its
rules, a request for waiver must be supported by a showing of good cause.  We conclude that
Lansingburgh has failed to make a showing to justify grant of a waiver.  

     4.   In its Letter of Appeal, Lansingburgh has not described the circumstances of its
filing, nor provided any explanation for its lateness.  To simply advert, as Lansingburgh does, to
its limited resources and the needs of its students, does not distinguish its situation from other
applications the SLD must process each funding year in accordance with its filing deadlines.  In
light of the thousands of applications that the SLD must review and process each funding year, we
believe that it is administratively appropriate for the SLD to require applicants to adhere strictly to
its filing deadlines.  In this regard, the Commission has previously stated that it would not
generally grant requests for waiver for late filings, noting that filers should allow enough time in
meeting deadlines to account for unanticipated delays.  Accordingly, we believe that waivers of
these deadlines should be granted only in very limited circumstances.  

     5.   Moreover, Lansingburgh 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."  Under these circumstances, we conclude that Lansingburgh has failed to
make a showing warranting relief and we therefore deny its Letter of Appeal.  

     6.   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 appeal for a waiver filed May 16, 1999 by Lansingburgh Central School
District IS DENIED.


                         FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION  
     


                         Lawrence E. Strickling
                         Chief, Common Carrier Bureau