PEARCY — Students and educators from several local districts met with FASTERArkansas representatives Tuesday to discuss how a more efficient Internet service could benefit schools across the state.
Lake Hamilton High School marked the first stop on the Fast Access for Students, Teachers and Economic Results Arkansas task force bus tour Tuesday. The tour is intended to spread information about FASTERArkansas’ goal of providing all Arkansas K-12 students with faster and more reliable high-speed Internet access. Additional stops are planned later for El Dorado, Little Rock Central High School and Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School.
Students from Fountain Lake High School, Gardner STEM Magnet School and Hot Springs Middle School were on hand to display projects that were made possible by their schools’ Internet capabilities.
“We know that the power of technology can level the playing field for Arkansas students as they compete against kids all across the world,” said Elsa Becker, FASTERArkansas spokesperson.
Becker provided data collected by the EducationSuperHighway about Internet access in Arkansas. Gov. Mike Beebe and the EducationSuperHighway announced a partnership last week for a comprehensive effort to connect all Arkansas students to high-speed Internet.
Act 1050 currently prohibits Arkansas K-12 schools from having the option to access the Arkansas Research Education Optical Network, a taxpayer-funded fiber-optic infrastructure. Four-year and two-year higher education institutions are allowed access to ARE-ON.
Becker said the Arkansas Public School Computer Network was a great system in 1992, but it is now outdated. Schools need access to fiber-optic connections for today’s education demands. The governor’s office released a statement earlier in the year calling for a change to the law. Arkansas is the only state out of 42 with a state network that prohibits use by K-12 schools.
An estimated 230,000 students in Arkansas do not have access to the standard type of Internet access recommended by the Federal Communications Commission. Smackover is the only district in the state that currently meets the 2018 connectivity requirements set by President Barack Obama and the FCC.
The APSCN accounts for 57 percent of total Internet access spending in Arkansas, but only 5 percent of the total connectivity. Total bandwidth through the APSCN is 3 gigabits per second for $11 million. The monthly cost is $286 per megabits per second.
The total bandwidth for Arkansas schools through other vendors is 55 Gbps for just $8 million. The monthly cost is $13 per Mbps. Some schools like Van Buren and Two Rivers pay as little as $2 to $3 per Mbps. The national average is $11 per Mbps.
School funds spent on K-12 connectivity and distance learning is eligible for E-rate, a federal program that subsidizes school broadband. The annual APSCN E-rate is $10.5 million. The other $10.5 million is covered by the Arkansas Department of Education.
About 90 percent of school districts also purchase Internet access directly from vendors. Schools are reimbursed for 80 percent of the costs through E-rate.
Becker said FASTERArkansas is not advocating for a mandate, but instead for more options for Arkansas schools. She said it is now more efficient for districts to purchase access in bulk.
Access to ARE-ON was previously not available to two-year institutions. Blake Butler, director of Computer Services at National Park Community College, said federal money was released to allow two-year colleges to connect to ARE-ON.
Butler said the college’s monthly bill went from $3,500 for 10 Mbps to $2,100 for 100 Mbps. The network also helps to link work between colleges.
“It totally changed what we did out at the college,” Butler said.
John Stokes, Hot Springs Middle School EAST facilitator, was joined by freshman Christian Boekhout. Stokes described the level of sophistication of maps created by Boekhout and other students in EAST.
Stokes said his school is lucky to have Internet through fiber services. The EAST Initiative requested the school upgrade its capabilities when new equipment was installed at the start of the 2013-2014 school year. The district provided the upgrades.
“The difference was night and day over what the kids were capable of doing at the start of last year and what they were capable of doing at the end of it,” Stokes said.
Gardner STEM Magnet School EAST facilitator Paul Miller attended the program with a second-grade student and a fourth-grade student to describe their projects. Miller said the students know that faster Internet is better when they are designing video games.
Melony Gilleran, EAST facilitator at Fountain Lake High School, and three students showed a video about the job of school nurses. The students conducted a statewide survey to provide statistical data in the video when it is later shown to the state Legislature.
“Our theme with EAST this year is, ‘Create today to improve tomorrow,’” Gilleran said. “That little world they are looking at — we want to expand the definition of that world. It is not just our school. It is not even just our county. It’s the state and even larger.”
The project was filmed in part at Lake Hamilton in conjunction with the Arkansas School Nurses Association.
Lake Hamilton Superintendent Steve Anderson asked about the source of resistance to changing Act 1050. Tuesday’s discussion indicated that the main pushback may stem from the Department of Information Services and lobbyists in Little Rock.
Becker was joined at Lake Hamilton by other members of the FASTERArkansas field team, Mary Katherine Keller and Christen Carter.