The Minister for Education, the Hon Julia Gillard MP, officially announced the successful schools that will benefit from funding in Round One on 12 June 2008. To view a list of these schools see the Round One Successful Schools.
Applications for Round One opened on 3 March 2008 and closed at 8.00pm (Eastern Standard Time) on 4 April 2008.
The Australian Government has provided over $116 million for computers to be allocated to the most needy schools in Round One. Over 95% of schools identified through the preliminary audit for Round One applied. 896 schools have been successful in Round One and the Governmnent has committed total funds of $116,820,000.
To identify those schools most in need of ICT investment a preliminary survey of current numbers of computers (less than four years old) available for use by students in Years 9 to 12 in secondary schools, was undertaken in February 2008 by state and territory government education departments, the Associations of Independent Schools and the Catholic Education Offices.
Using the findings of the preliminary survey, the Minister for Education, the Hon Julia Gillard, decided that the first $100 million should be used to bring those schools with a computer to student ratio of 1:8 or worse to a target ratio of 1:2. Due to the very high response rate, the Government has decided to commit over $116 million to Round One schools.
This is the first instalment of the $1.1 billion available under the National Secondary School Computer Fund.
Schools advised to apply for Round One funding will not be precluded from applying for funding in future years of the National Secondary School Computer Fund.
902 schools applied for Round One funding, 896 of these schools were successful. This will see funding provided for 116,820 computers across these schools, improving the computer-to-student ratio from 1:8 or worse to a target of 1:2.
Successful applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application in writing in June 2008.
The Minister for Education, the Hon Julia Gillard MP, announced the successful schools that will benefit from funding in Round One on 12 June 2008.
Unsuccessful applicants will be advised in writing by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and provided feedback to support development of an application in a future round of the National Secondary School Computer Fund.
Funding agreements have been entered into with state and territory government education departments for government schools and Block Grant Authorities (BGAs) for non-government schools in June 2008. These agreements set out agreed milestones for the rollout of computers and ICT equipment purchased through the National Secondary School Computer Fund.
State and territory education departments and BGAs will be responsible for managing funds on behalf of schools in their jurisdiction and will acquit the grants to the Australian Government on behalf of schools.
Schools should contact their relevant education authority.
Funds for Round One must be expended over a two year period, i.e. by June 2010. Forty percent of funding is to be spent in the first six months. There is a six month reporting framework for the two year period.
The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) checked applications for compliance and completeness. Applications were forwarded to the relevant state and territory education departments for government schools and Block Grant Authorities for non-government schools for assessment and advice against the selection criteria as listed in the guidelines and assessment guide for Round One. These authorities provided advice to DEEWR to ensure that the schools identified with the greatest need are funded first and that they are able to implement and deploy the proposed procurement. DEEWR used this advice to make recommendations to the Minister for Education.
Guidelines for Round One are available through the Digital Education Revolution website. The Guidelines provide information on the application process, the assessment process, how payments will be made, and how the funding can be used. The guidelines are the same for all school sectors.
The primary use of the funds will be for the purchase of laptop computers, desktop computers and thin clients to improve the computer to student ratio to 1:2. If savings have been made through bulk purchasing arrangements, once the computer to student ratio of 1:2 is met, residual funds can be used to ensure the effective deployment of these computers. This might include contributions to on-costs, for example, power, security, air-conditioning or network infrastructure.
Residual funds may also be used to purchase other ICT equipment, such as interactive whiteboards, data projectors, printers or scanners as set out in the Round One Guidelines 
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This will provide more flexibility to assist the education authorities to support the roll out of the computers purchased.
The management of the funds is the responsibility of the appropriate state and territory education departments and the BGAs. Please consult with your relevant education authority to determine your funding arrangements.
Most schools and school systems will have existing policies for insurance and should extend these arrangements for this initiative.