The Federal Communications Commission has accepted the argument that an E-rate appeal was timely filed when the appellant produced proof that it received its rejection from the Schools and Libraries Division nearly a month after the letter was dated.
In a case involving the Praxis Institute of Philadelphia, the SLD rejected a Form 471 application for failure to meet minimum processing standards in a letter dated July 18, 2000. Praxis filed an appeal on Sept. 13, 2000, which the SLD rejected because it had not been filed within the 30 days required under its rules. In a subsequent appeal to the FCC, Praxis produced a copy of the postmark for the letter, indicating that it had not been mailed until Aug. 15, 2000–28 days after the SLD decision was dated and only two days before it would have had to respond.
The FCC accepted that argument, and determined that the SLD should reconsider the matter.
