FAYETTEVILLE -- The governor's plan to provide Internet access to every public school in Arkansas makes almost no use of a nearly $140 million, high-speed network stretching throughout the state.
The state will spend millions of dollars buying Internet capacity for one public network while leaving a substantial amount of open capacity on another public network untouched, according to state agencies. Supporters say the plan will save millions of dollars more because it builds off a system already plugged into every district.
Arkansas internet networks
Arkansas Public School Computer Network (APSCN): Established in the early 1990s, a network of private cables and fiber that connects to every district and provides about 5 percent of the state’s K-12 Internet access.
• Current capacity statewide: About 3 gigabits per second
• Capacity by 2017 under Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s plan: About 56 Gbps
• Capacity by 2022: 560 Gbps
Arkansas Research and Education Optical Network (ARE-ON): Established about 2005, a network of mostly private, high-speed fiber leased by the state to connect universities, colleges and hospitals. Built mostly with $100 million federal grant, plus state and network member money.
• Current capacity: 400 Gbps
• Potential capacity: 4 terabits per second (1 terabit = 1,000 gigabits)
Source: Staff report
Gov. Asa Hutchinson this year directed the Department of Education and Department of Information Services to bid out and coordinate several companies' efforts to overhaul and improve the aging Arkansas Public School Computer Network, an outdated network providing small Internet connections to all of the 257 K-12 school districts. It's a major step in a years-long push in the state to cater to a future of online testing and technology-based courses.
"Digital learning tools are transforming K-12," Mark Myers, director of the information department, and Johnny Key, head of the education department, wrote in an April editorial in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "Our goal is to provide every school district in Arkansas with Internet access at speeds up to 200 times faster than ever before while ensuring high levels of security."
Work should begin this summer. In two years, the plan would bolster the network's overall capacity by almost 20-fold to about 56 gigabits per second, a measure of information flow speed big enough to meet or exceed federal and state goals for how much bandwidth each Arkansas student needs. The capacity would also climb 10 times higher within the next seven years.
Money talks
The state will pay for public school Internet access instead of having school districts mostly buy it themselves, saving districts thousands or tens of thousands of dollars a year. The cost for all districts' combined access should plummet from more than $20 million a year to $13 million, with much of that eligible for federal assistance, according to the information department.
The plan puts a stop to growing momentum under former Gov. Mike Beebe to hitch public schools to another statewide network that includes universities, community colleges and hospitals. It's called the Arkansas Research and Education Optical Network, or ARE-ON. Today 400 gigabits per second can surge through its fiber-optic cables, most of which are leased long-term from private providers.
About 80 percent of that capacity is unused, said David Merrifield, the network's chief technology officer -- enough to hold all public schools' Internet access several times over. The network also can be upgraded to 4 terabits a second.
ARE-ON costs Arkansas about $3 million a year, Steve Fulkerson, the network's director, said in an email.
State law has prohibited K-12 schools from tapping into ARE-ON since 2011, something Beebe pushed to change. The upgraded K-12 network will use seven of ARE-ON's hubs as aggregation points to connect to several districts at once, Janet Wilson, a Department of Information Services spokeswoman, wrote in an email. But it will only share the physical location and won't plug into ARE-ON's capacity.
State Sen. Uvalde Lindsey, D-Fayetteville and vice chair of the Senate Education Committee, said connecting to ARE-ON is a bad idea because of one big factor: money.
"I look at ARE-ON as if it's the interstate highway system," Lindsey said by phone. The network's highways go from corner to corner of the state, but the side roads and streets from the network to the districts are missing, he said, and could cost tens of millions of dollars to build.
Private companies like Windstream and Cox Communications, on the other hand, in many cases have built those side roads, including the older lines running the K-12 network that's being upgraded.
"The network's already there. ARE-ON is not there," Lindsey said. "My feeling right now is that the private sector working with the individual school districts have pretty well got this thing whipped."
Two recent reports on Arkansas' connectivity offer some evidence to back up this concern.
A December 2014 report from EducationSuperHighway, a nonprofit group that pushes for improving schools' access, mentioned ARE-ON as a possible backbone for a state K-12 network, saying the state would be "well-served" by removing the law barring K-12 access. Whether ARE-ON would be the most cost-effective option is unclear, according to the report.
In another report from December, North Little Rock company CT&T found connecting every district to ARE-ON could cost between $110 million and $230 million, a sum that includes laying more than 3,000 miles of specially built fiber.
The upgraded K-12 network's $13 million cost, in contrast, includes most new infrastructure needed, information services spokeswoman Rachel Reginelli wrote in an email. Much of that cost would be reimbursed by the federal E-rate program as well.
CT&T looked into another scenario: using fiber that already exists in the hands of Internet Service Providers between the districts and ARE-ON, a sort of hybrid between a fully public plan and a fully private plan. Doing so could cost $1.4 million in infrastructure, the report found, with $6.3 million in annual costs. The option wouldn't help schools that have no fiber running nearby.
Both EducationSuperHighway and CT&T recommended the state hold off on a major state network, instead putting money first toward shoring up Internet access for lagging districts. EducationSuperHighway said an aggregated network would be the way to go after that, while CT&T said the state should wait to see if one's needed.
The governor opted to jump straight to the aggregated network. Two messages left with spokesman J.R. Davis in the last two weeks asking about why Hutchinson chose this course and decided against using ARE-ON weren't returned.
Hutchinson has supported more technology in the classroom, signing a bill earlier this year requiring public high schools to offer computer science courses next school year.
"Whatever field you want to get in to, there's a need for computer programmers," he said during a visit to Rogers High School last month touting the courses.
Oklahoma, California and other states provide public networks accessible to universities and K-12 schools. The director of Oklahoma's network declined to comment.
In Arkansas, Internet companies resisted Beebe's calls to use ARE-ON, pointing out the network is mostly based on their fiber. The infrastructure needed by most districts already exists and simply needs to be purchased, they have said.
"There were some bad ideas that were originally floated out there," said Len Pitcock, Cox Communications director of government affairs. "The new administration has come in and has put a plan in place that I think everyone can get behind."
Still, State Reps. Dan Douglas, R-Bentonville, and Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville, who have both been involved in the school connectivity process, said ARE-ON could play some role, but not yet.
"When you have existing resources, it would've been nice to find a way to use those, but this is the path we're on now," Leding said. "We must make sure that our schools have the broadband access that they need. I also hope that the state will find a way to do that in the most fair and efficient manner possible."
District impact
The new state-provided connections should provide each district with at least 100 kilobits per second per student -- a gigabit is a million kilobits. Northwest Arkansas districts will benefit to varying degrees, technology directors said.
Andy Mayes, Bentonville Public Schools technology director, said he'd been told the district's 1.2 gigabit connection could be bumped to 1.5 gigabits, for example. In Rogers and Fayetteville, the connection could double in the next few years.
"We'll take free money anytime, or free bandwidth," said Cris Carter, Rogers district spokesman. He said the district's monthly Internet bill is about $1,500 a month after federal reimbursement. That cost would disappear as far as the district's concerned, though districts still must maintain and pay for networks in and between their buildings.
Springdale, on the other hand, could lose out, at least on paper, said Eric Hatch, technology director. The 5-gigabit connection the district bought on its own is so fast it could be downgraded to 3 gigabits at first in the state's plan. The district's usage typically amounts to 2 or 3 gigabits anyway, Hatch said.
"It's certainly less than we have now, but I don't know that we'll see the effect," Hatch said, adding even with a slower connection the district has built its expertise and equipment to handle more in the future. "It's actually going to be a little easier to deal with, having one Internet provider."
Under the plan, districts' federal assistance stays with the state. If districts want to upgrade the state's connection, they'll have to pay full price instead of between 10 percent and 50 percent after federal help. Rachel Reginelli, the information services spokeswoman, said that extra cost will be "low" under the plan.
Cox won the bid for the new service to most districts in the area. Sometimes it's cheaper, as in Rogers, where the yearly cost will go from $156,000 to $110,000. For others, including Springdale and Prairie Grove, the bill will rise.
Pitcock said some of the new connections could start by next school year, with little new infrastructure needed.
"We can turn them on all pretty quick," he said.
Shawn Witt, Prairie Grove technology director, criticized the change, saying Prairie Grove Telephone Company provided enough Internet for a low cost and lost the bid simply because the state favored a region-wide approach.
"We connect to our ISP (Internet Service Provider) that's three blocks down the street," he said. Connecting to the more distant Cox will cost the state about $3,100 a month under Cox's bid, compared with $850 now, all before federal reimbursement. The connection with be 0.2 gigabits instead of 0.12, but Witt said the increase wasn't worth the price, even if the district doesn't have to pay.
"Someone is paying for this," he said, adding the state should've offered help only to districts that need it. "All the sudden it became, 'No, we're shoving this down your throat, this is what you're doing.'"
Districts across the state generally are on board with the plan, said Richard Abernathy, executive director of the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators.
"We have some that are disappointed, but we have others that are jumping up and down for joy," he said. "We've been asking the state to get into that (providing Internet) for years. They're very likely going to save money doing it. I think that's a win."
Dan Holtmeyer can be reached at dholtmeyer@nwadg.com and on Twitter @NWADanH.
NW News on 06/08/2015