Schools in Craigmont, Orofino and Lewiston faced different options as the state network dried up late last month, including the potential for paying nearly $9,000 less per month for similar Internet access.
In November, a judge said the state contract for the Idaho Education Network was awarded illegally and deemed it void. State law prohibits state agencies from paying on illegal contracts. In the absence of payments, provider CenturyLink said it would stop service, settling on a date of Feb. 27.
With no way to salvage the state contract, the Idaho Legislature passed a bill to reimburse districts for their own individual broadband contracts for the rest of the fiscal year, through June. So far, districts have received $2,000 each from the state to put toward maintaining service.
The Highland School District in Craigmont received two bids for continuing its Internet service. One was from the provider the state had been using, Education Networks of America, which has offices in Boise and contracts with CenturyLink. The other came from Moscow-based First Step Internet.
Education Networks of America's bid of $8,191 per month was 16 times more than the $500 per month price offered by First Step.
The higher bid was for 18 megabits per second, delivered through fiber-optic lines installed by Education Networks of America. The lower bid included 50 Mbps of microwave service, delivered via First Step's antennas.
Education Networks of America director of customer services Garry Lough said his company's more-expensive bid reflects differences in service quality and the quick turnaround required as a result of the state network's sudden demise.
"Given the tight timeline that we were under, we could only offer the same services that the state had contracted us to deliver," Lough said.
The significantly higher cost of those services, he said, includes the expenses the company incurred bringing fiber-optic cable to Craigmont.
"Highland is remote and the construction is fairly recent," he said. "I think the important thing is the mandate of the project was to deliver fiber no matter their location."
Highland's business manager Nathan Weeks said though service through a fiber line generally is considered superior, with the significant price difference the district was ready to consider First Step's offer.
"It's good enough for St. Mary's Hospital (in nearby Cottonwood) to use it," Weeks said of the microwave service. "I think it would be good enough for us."
But there was a snag.
The school district's phones operate via Internet, and Weeks was told the reconfiguring process to make them work with another Internet provider could take more than two weeks, during which the district's phone numbers would not work.
Seeing an opportunity for significantly cheaper Internet service slipping away because of the risk of losing phone service was frustrating, Weeks said. "I felt like I was being held up."
Highland School Board Chairman Don Johnston said the board's first inclination was to go with First Step's bid. But after discussing the drawbacks of not having phones - including safety issues - it chose Education Networks of America despite the higher cost, which will be covered by the state.
"We really felt being out a phone for that long a time would probably cause more grief than what we want," Johnston said. "To me, that was the breaking point."
With more time to plan for a transition, though, the decision about what to do for the 2015-16 school year might be different, he said. The current broadband contract is good until the end of the fiscal year, which goes through June.
"At that point in time, we'll be addressing it and looking it over again," Johnston said.
Another remote district, Orofino, needed to add bandwidth regardless of what happened with the Idaho Education Network, the district's technology coordinator Russel Miles said.
In early February, the district added 50 Mbps of service through First Step for approximately $500 a month, compared to the more than $9,200 a month the state paid for 45 Mbps through the Idaho Education Network contract with Education Networks of America.
"I was actually astounded," Miles said of the cost difference.
As at Highland, the service from First Step is delivered via microwave antennas, whereas Education Networks of America had brought fiber-optic lines to parts of the district.
Miles said he had anticipated using First Step's service to replace the education network when it ended, but the abrupt cutoff didn't leave enough time for the transition.
"I really wanted to be in a position to save the money that looked like it could be saved," he said. "If I'd have had a couple more weeks, we'd have had time to test that. We just didn't feel like we could guarantee success if we went ahead on that day."
Miles said he expects to have more options going forward.
"I do anticipate things will be different for next school year," he said. "That we will have a quality connection at a reduced price."
In the absence of the 45 Mbps it had been getting through the Idaho Education Network, the Lewiston School District is relying on 100 Mbps of broadband it already had through Lewiston-based XO Communications.
Assistant Superintendent Lance Hansen said the district had an offer from Education Networks of America to continue the service it had received through the state network for $5,284 per month, but "we have chosen not to do that."
So far, Hansen said, the district is getting by with just the 100 Mbps for $1,700 a month through XO.
"We're monitoring it daily to see what impact that's having to the network," he said.
Like Orofino, Hansen said, Lewiston needed to add bandwidth even before the Idaho Education Network went dark, and district officials have requested information from XO about doing so.
Lough said it is possible Education Networks of America will be able to offer more competitive bids as districts seek contracts for next school year.
"I think you're going to see a wide range of options," he said. "We'll still try to deliver what we do, which is managed Internet services to schools. We'll just try to be as creative as we can. It'll vary. It just depends - every location is different."
©2015 the Lewiston Tribune (Lewiston, Idaho) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
