Last year, state lawmakers approved $25 million to help school districts over the 2018-19 budget period replace or install fiber-optic cable, arguably the fastest, most reliable and scalable form of internet access available. In return, the federal government promised to match the state money dollar-for-dollar through the E-Rate Program, administered by the Federal Communications Commission through a nonprofit organization called the Universal Service Administrative Company, or USAC. Texas will shell out $6 million this year and, based on applications from school districts, the state is estimated to pay $16.4 million next year.
The federal government, however, has been slow to approve applications for fiber from Texas school districts. If the federal government doesn’t approve projects by Sept. 1, some, if not all, of $32.8 million in federal and state money might not be available next year.
“It was always a pain, but this is hyperpain,” said Jennifer Bergland, director of governmental relations for the Texas Computer Education Association, about the process to get school districts’ fiber projects approved by the federal government. “They’ve just gone back and forth and back and forth.”
Gov. Greg Abbott has been pushing for connecting all Texas school districts to fiber internet, launching the Texas Classroom Connectivity Initiative in 2016. As concerns about delays were mounting, Abbott last month co-signed a letter to the federal government reminding officials about the state’s deadline and requesting applications be approved “in a timely manner.”
“As a result of the governor’s continued efforts to providing Texas students with more resources they need to receive the best possible education, USAC has committed to working with Governor Abbott to ensure their application approval process does not impede on Texas’ ability to expand internet access in our public schools,” Abbott spokeswoman Ciara Matthews said.
Texas has put up more money than any other state in the federal-state matching program. School districts from across the country have been experiencing delays.
An FCC spokesman said that Chairman Ajit Pai has requested the process be made “more efficient.”
“Chairman Pai believes that the E-rate program is critically important to closing the digital divide for the nation’s students, particularly in rural areas. To that end, the Chairman has directed the Universal Service Administrative Company to take steps to make the processing of all E-rate applications — including, but not limited to, fiber applications — more efficient,” FCC spokesman Mark Wigfield said.
‘That little spinning wheel’
Although urban school districts, particularly those with large numbers of low-income students, can also participate in the E-Rate Program, which began in 1998, rural school districts benefit the most. Rural school districts with a high number of low-income students could pay little to nothing to install fiber, and many of them that neighbor one another have banded together to ask for fiber to make such a project more attractive to internet providers.With many school districts committing to providing each student with one internet-connected device in the classroom, having high-speed and reliable internet has become increasingly crucial.
Almost all school districts have some sort of broadband internet, but some of them are providing it through such older means as wireless and copper connections. Even if all projects are approved for federal and state funding this year, about 45 Texas school districts still will have at least one campus that doesn’t have fiber.
“You know that little spinning wheel you get on your computer – they get that all the time. They can’t use video. They can’t use many of the lessons that are available on the internet. It is really a playing field leveler. Once you have the bandwidth, you have access to the same educational opportunities as your peers do,” said Evan Marwell, chief executive officer and founder of EducationSuperHighway, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that has worked with the state on Abbott’s connectivity initiative.
In 2017, the E-Rate Program received 36 applications from Texas school districts, including Del Valle, for fiber internet installation help. None of those applications were approved by Sept. 1; 26 were approved by Dec. 31; nine were approved by March 28; and one application from the Houston school district is still pending.
Last year, school districts asked for an estimated 1,036 miles of fiber.
This year, the program has received 65 applications, including from the Round Rock district, which could receive $2 million in state and federal money. The money would go toward a $10 million project to replace 178 miles of fiber in the district.
In total, Texas school districts have requested 3,210 miles of fiber this year.
Melody Parrish, Texas Education Agency deputy commissioner for technology, told the Texas Senate Education Committee this month she was concerned the same delays she saw last year would continue this year.
“We’re anticipating these not being approved by Sept. 1, 2018. Every day it gets delayed by the federal approval, that cuts a day off for the consortium or district to actually get the work completed, so we’re really worried about that,” she told lawmakers. Texas Education Agency officials told the American-Statesman they are working on a contingency plan if the federal and state money isn’t available because of missed deadlines and projects aren’t completed.
Denials in Central Texas
According to EducationSuperHighway, the federal government is causing delays and denials by excessively scrutinizing applications, inconsistently applying rules and changing the application process that has led to confusion from school districts.“There has been bureaucratic overreach where they are doing things that they shouldn’t be doing largely because they’re too worried about waste in the system,” Marwell said of the FCC and the nonprofit that administers the E-Rate Program. “They lost sight of the goal, which is to get kids connected.”
The Lake Travis school district’s federal application was denied in December 2016 because the school district made an adjustment in its request for proposal for a vendor to install fiber, triggering a waiting period the district didn’t know about, said Chris Woehl, executive director for technology and information system services at the district. District officials awarded the contract during the waiting period, which is against the E-Rate Program rules, and the district lost out on money that would have covered about 40 to 50 percent of the project’s cost.
The district paid about $110,000 to lay down new fiber between some of its schools and the district’s new data center, Woehl said.
“The application process is lengthy, cumbersome and left to interpretation by USAC,” he said. “We were doing the project anyway so it was going to be a supplement, so when the application was denied it was no sweat off our backs, but we would have loved to have had the money.”
The Dripping Springs school district’s application for $46,000 in federal money also was denied in the 2016-17 school year due to a technicality, according to district officials, who also called the process complicated and confusing.
©2018 Austin American-Statesman, Texas Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
