Navajo County schools are taking advantage of an opportunity that will bring greater bandwidth to K-12 schools along with the possibility of providing an economic opportunity for the region.
In March, the Arizona Corporation Commission approved changes to the Arizona Universal Service Fund (AUSF) rules to provide funding for broadband expansion to rural Arizona. This change will pave the way for the AUSF to fund a program that is a partnership between the ACC, the Governor’s Office, the Superintendent of Public Instruction and EducationSuperHighway, which will allow $100 million in federal e-rate funds to pay for the infrastructure to rural schools and libraries.
The AUSF will provide $8 million in state match funding and an additional $5 million has been added to the governor’s budget proposal. The funding mechanism will be a 15-cent monthly telephone service charge for one year.
When the opportunity to apply for the funding was announced, Joseph City School District officials recognized what the impact could mean to county schools. “We saw the potential of what this could mean for our district and organized a meeting with the other districts in order to partner on this effort,” stated District Business Manager Steve Mills.
“Distance learning is becoming more important, and at some point what we need may not be available through NPC (Northland Pioneer College). Additional broadband will allow us to provide more opportunities for our students,” explained Mills.
Last year the Joseph City district upgraded its broadband to 100 megabits, believing that would be sufficient for a long time to come. “When we are in our testing cycles, our Internet really slows down because we’ve maxed out. With the expanded broadband, we will have four times the access we do now,” said Mills.
The district could not be the lead agency in this project as it has met its project limit, so the Navajo County Superintendents Association, which is presided over by Joseph City Superintendent Bryan Fields, has agreed to take on the project.
An issue for bids went out two weeks ago and nine contractors responded. The bids must be received by May 1, after which a 10-day evaluation of those bids will take place and a contractor selected. Once selected, Mills estimates the work to be complete in about a year.
Mills noted that not only does this benefit schools and libraries, it has the potential to benefit economic growth.
Navajo County Assistant Manager Paul Watson shared that opinion and added that hospitals in the region are also looking at how to expand bandwidth.
A consortium that includes Navajo and Apache county hospitals and other county health services has obtained funding through the Healthcare Connect Fund to fund a study for expansion similar to what the school and libraries are doing.
“Telemedicine is becoming more and more prevalent, and necessary in rural areas. The first step is developing a road map of what exists and what is needed,” said Watson. The study will look at shortcomings and pitfalls, as well as capacity and redundancy. Watson expects that the study should be completed by the end of May.
Expanded bandwidth is a tremendous asset for regions seeking to attract industries that require high bandwidth to operate. It could also mean a new way of doing business in the county.
“As the older generation moves out of the workforce and the next generation comes in, they’ll be more willing to let employees live where they want. They’ve grown up with the technology, so it’s naturally a part of what they do in their workplace,” Watson said. This could create a new culture for rural Arizona as opportunities may arise to develop or build space to accommodate employees from multiple companies who may only need a communal space to work from other than home.
