Arkansas plans for its upgraded school broadband network to initiate at twice the speed originally planned and 40 times faster than the existing network.
The increased speed -- 200 kilobits per second per user -- will cost an additional $6 million, said Mark Myers, director of the Department of Information Systems. The additional cost will be covered by delayed reimbursements for existing school broadband capacity from the federal government's E-rate program.
In addition to providing a smoother experience with electronic testing, the faster network will allow students a more collaborative learning experience, Myers said.
"You might have a Chinese 3 instructor in Bentonville, but you don't have one in Fayetteville. Why can't you have a virtual classroom there?" he said.
A faster network means schools with specialized teachers can share their expertise at more schools through videoconferencing and other technology.
"This network allows those things to happen," Myers said.
Myers said the E-rate reimbursements had been delayed because the government wanted state broadband contracts to match the start and end dates of the fiscal year, forcing the state to request a waiver. The federal government also frowned on schools receiving Internet from both the Arkansas Public School Computer Network and private providers.
In many districts, schools receive Internet capacity from a private company and the Arkansas Public School Computer Network.
Earlier this year, more than 20 telecommunications companies were awarded contracts to upgrade the network at a cost of $49 million.
Telecommunications companies bid an additional $51 million to provide intradistrict connections, but many schools already have those connections in place and do not need additional services.
Schools won't have to buy broadband from both the state and private companies when the upgrade is complete.
Myers said Gov. Asa Hutchinson approved the $6 million in funding after the state received $7 million in reimbursement commitments from the federal government.
"Obviously this is good news for districts across the state. Faster speeds means more productivity, less wait time," said J.R. Davis, a spokesman for Hutchinson. "Also, the governor's focused on computer science. This obviously goes hand in hand with that."
EducationSuperHighway, a nonprofit that is working to meet national goals for Internet access in public schools, praised the move.
"The FCC set an initial goal for 2014 of 100 kbps [kilobits per second] per student, but at the same time, demand for bandwidth continues to grow at a rate of about 50 percent per year," said spokesman Nell Hurley. "Therefore, we believe it's important to first ensure that all schools are reaching the initial goal and then for schools to upgrade as demand warrants."
Although it will take $6 million to double the per-student speed from 100 kilobits per second to 200 kilobits per second, Myers said it would take only an additional $9 million to reach 1,000 kilobits per second per student.
The fiber-optic cabling and network hardware are capable of higher speeds, but the state has to pay for the increased bandwidth.
He said that when the Arkansas Public School Computer Network is upgraded, school districts can pay the additional cost to reach 1,000 kilobits per second on their own. They would be eligible for reimbursement by the federal government.
"The first 100 kbps is the real expense because you have to have all that infrastructure in place," he said. "Once that infrastructure's in place, the bandwidth becomes real incremental."
Metro on 06/21/2015