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With resolute tenacity, members of the Navajo-Gila County Information Technology Education Consortium, continue to pursue funding through federal E-rate program for a broadband network for the schools and libraries of Navajo and Gila County.
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Navajo County Library District Director Geneva Durkee said that late in January of this year, the consortium received word from the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) that their 2018 funding application had entered into final review after having passed months of stringent analysis.
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The 2018 application is for a $61 million project for the installation of more than 1,000 miles of fiber optics between the 51 schools and libraries of Navajo and Gila counties by Red Rock Telecommunications. According to the rules of the E-rate funding, the consortium would receive 83 percent of the $61 million from USAC, and with a match by the State of Arizona, the USAC funding would increase another seven percent, making the broadband service a no cost to the consortium.
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About the same time, the consortium’s application entered into final review, Pinal County Internet Consortium received word that their application for $32 million was accepted. “We are still a little hopeful that this might be good news for us,” said Durkee, who admitted that the wheels of government funding can grind slowly.
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Not willing to put all their eggs in one proverbial basket, Navajo County Superintendent of Schools Jalyn Gerlich said the consortium reorganized for the 2019 application process to include only 26 schools and libraries throughout Navajo County and Payson in Gila County.
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“If we get funded through 2018 application, then the 2019 will go away,” said Gerlich, “but we can’t risk not being ready to submit our 2019 application.”
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With the consortium, which still goes under the same name, now down by nearly 50 percent of the original partnership, Gerlich said the process for 2019 will be much smaller, but the actual cost and span of fiber optics won’t be known until a bid is accepted after the bid process closes on March 18.
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Gerlich concluded, “Right now, it’s a guessing game. All we can do is apply for the 2019 funding cycle and who knows what USAC and E-rate will do. Someone had asked me recently if we were giving up. We are not giving up. We are going to keep trying. It is a process that takes time, but we all understand how desperately our schools and libraries need this project.”
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