About Texas e-Plan

Under the direction of the Texas Education Agency, the Technology Planning and E-Rate Support Center (TPESC) at Education Service Center Region 12 collaborated with the South Central Regional Technology in Education Consortium to design and develop the Texas e-Plan, an online Technology Planning System to enable districts and charter schools to meet state and federal technology planning requirements.  Special thanks is issued to the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) for programming and hosting the Texas e-Plan site, the Educational Technology Advisory Committee (ETAC) for initial input into the site planning, and to Education Service Centers for feedback on the site design and components during site development. 

Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Title II, Part D, Enhancing Education Through Technology, the law states that in order to be eligible to receive a subgrant from the State educational agency, a local educational agency or eligible local entity shall submit to the State educational agency an application containing a new or updated local long-range strategic educational technology plan that is consistent with the objectives of the statewide educational plan.

In addition, schools and districts are required to have an approved technology plan to participate in the federal Schools and Libraries Universal Service Support Program, better known as E-Rate. The Texas Education Agency is the authorized approver for K-12 public school technology plans. TEA does not approve private school technology plans.

All Texas districts are required to submit a new or revised Technology Plan electronically during the 2003-2004 school year via the Texas e-Plan system. This online planning system allows districts to create, edit, and file an online technology plan. The online technology plan can then be reviewed and approved online. Schools and districts will receive an electronic approval for the plan.

Along with the online plan, districts must complete the online Texas STaR Chart Needs Assessment for each campus at least once annually. The Texas STaR Chart is a tool for technology planning, budgeting for resources, and evaluation of progress in integrating technology into the school curriculum and infrastructure. The Texas STaR Chart Needs Assessment Web site will be open January through May 31, 2004.

To provide assistance with technology planning and E-Rate, TEA has established the Technology Planning and E-Rate Support Center (TPESC) at the Education Service Center Region 12. The TPESC will coordinate the Peer Review Process for technology plans submitted via the Texas e-Plan system.