State studying schools, broadband
Internet service providers, the Arkansas Department of Education and Gov. Mike Beebe are working to expand broadband access to rural schools, where education officials say fast connections are elusive but necessary to fulfill new digital learning requirements.
According to a Department of Education report, only 12 percent of Arkansas public schools have the recommended broadband connectivity. That’s a problem as standardized testing moves online, new teacher evaluation and data tools require increased bandwidth, and high schools must teach at least one digital learning course beginning in 2014.
However, some service providers question the extent to which expansion is needed.
Len Pitcock, incoming chairman of the Arkansas Cable Telecommunications Association and director of government affairs for Cox Communications, said many schools have access to higher speed Internet, but they are choosing not to buy it.
Pitcock said a study needs to be done to determine what level of access is available to schools as opposed to what they currently have.
“The report that I saw said every school system that I served as being deficient, but that’s what they asked me to sell them,” he said. “I’ve got the capability of upgrading all of my schools — without building or changing a thing — tomorrow.”
A National Telecommunications and Information Administration and Federal Communications Commission report states that 83 percent of the state’s population has access to a digital subscriber line, or DSL service; 66 percent has access to cable; and 3 percent has access to fiber Internet connectivity. Those numbers place Arkansas near the bottom of the heap in terms of Internet connectivity.
The FCC defines those technologies as broadband. Of the three, DSL is slower than cable or fiber.
On July 10, Beebe met with about 55 communications industry officials to discuss broadband capacity in schools.
“The purpose of the meeting was to tell these representatives that we’ve got to do a better job proliferating and increasing the bandwidth in K-12,” said Beebe spokesman Stacey Hall in an email.
To address the problem, Beebe introduced Faster Arkansas, a task force of 20-30 industry officials that will study the connectivity from an industry perspective.
On the same day, the Department of Education held the first meeting of its Quality Digital Learning Study, which will look at the problem from an educational perspective. Both groups will report to the governor by early December on potential solutions.
“We have 460,000 students that all deserve equal access to broadband capabilities so that they are prepared for the modern world of work,” said Ed Franklin, chairman of the Quality Digital Learning Study and executive director of the Arkansas Association of TwoYear Colleges. “The end result has to be that all students have access.”
Franklin said the goal is to work with industry to find solutions. That might involve wireless networking, running new fiber-optic cables, locating unused cables and setting up long-term agreements between school districts and Internet service providers.
“The governor wants this to be a private solution as much as possible and only for it to be a public solution when that can’t work,” Franklin said.
He said a private solution may not be possible in some parts of the state.
For those parts, expanding the Arkansas Research and Education Optical Network — which connects universities, community colleges and those higher-education schools’ hospitals — has been mentioned as a possible solution. However, expanding that network to include public schools would require changing the law.
“As a member [of the network], you can get [broadband access] through us, but we can’t and we won’t offer it to the general public,” said Diane Didier, the network’s director of administration and planning. “It depends on what the Legislature tells us to do. Until that changes, we’re going to operate in those parameters.”
Pitcock said he opposes expanding the Arkansas Research and Education Optical Network.
“It would be a multibilliondollar redundant solution,” he said. “We certainly don’t want to find ourselves in a scenario where we are reinventing the wheel.”
Jerry Jones, chairman of Faster Arkansas and chief ethics and legal officer at Acxiom, said most Internet service providers are looking at broadband expansion as an opportunity.
“There’s nothing to be concerned about at the present time,” he said. “I really don’t see why it would not be very good for them.”
Jones said the task force would look at applying for funding from federal programs, such as the FCC’s ERate program, which provides money to expand Internet access in rural and poor areas.
A document on the Department of Education’s website said the Arkansas High Cost Fund could also be used to fund broadband initiatives. The Legislature increased funding by $22 million in this year’s legislative session. The money came from increasing a tax on telecommunications company revenue from 2 percent to 4.2 percent.
Statements from AT&T Arkansas President Ed Drilling and a Windstream spokesman expressed support for the program, but said it is in its early stages. Drilling and Jeff Gardner, chief executive of Windstream, are members of Faster Arkansas.
“Faster connectivity and more reliable networks are a catalyst for learning and economic growth. I am pleased Gov. Beebe is making the issue a top priority,” Drilling said. “AT&T stands ready to meet the communications needs of all K-12 schools within our serving area, including fiber-based connections that provide bandwidth that greatly exceeds the capacity that has been ordered by schools to date.”