Area schools traversing a tangled Web

While schools throughout Idaho wait to see what will happen with state-supported Internet access, officials at several north central Idaho districts are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

The future of the Idaho Education Network, which has provided Internet service to schools since 2009, is in the hands of the Idaho Legislature after a judge ruled in November that the $60 million contract for the service was awarded illegally.

A federal program that gives rebates for broadband access to schools and libraries has withheld its payment of 70 percent of the cost since 2013 because of the legal questions. Last year, the Legislature approved more than $11 million to keep the program going, but that fix ends in February.

Districts are now left wondering whether the state will fund the program itself, put it out for bid again to try to regain the federal money or find another solution.

The extent that schools depend on the service varies by district, but all face increased expenses if the network disappears.

The Lewiston School District relies on the Idaho Education Network to supplement its Internet service, Assistant Superintendent Lance Hansen said.

An agreement with XO Communications provides Internet access for the district's seven elementary schools and its district office, while the state's program covers the high school, two junior highs and alternative high school.

Replacing the portion provided by the state network would cost the district about $20,000 before the federal rebate, Hansen said. But because the rebate isn't issued until the end of the year, the district would have to budget for the full $20,000.

Discounts from the rebate range from 20 to 90 percent, based on poverty levels and whether schools are in urban or rural areas. Lewiston's is about 70 percent, Hansen said.

He will recommend to the school board Monday that the district put its Internet service out for bid and budget for the difference.

"We are going to go ahead with the notion that (the service) may not be available, to protect ourselves," he said. "If the service is not provided to us, then we will need to procure that service, purchase that service. And that will have a fiscal impact to us."

Cottonwood School District Superintendent Rene Foresman said that while she expects the network situation to be resolved, her district has also filled out its own application for the federal rebate program "just in case."

Going through that process would allow other Internet service providers to bid on the district's service, Foresman said. Should the service go out to bid, Foresman said she hopes the price will be comparable to the $300 a month the district pays now.

The Cottonwood district's discount through the federal program is around 70 percent, Foresman said.

"We don't know how much it's going to cost if we do have to go another route," she said. "I would hope it would be right in that ballpark."

The district's Internet service has come exclusively through the Idaho Education Network since shortly after it launched in 2009. The service includes broadband, wireless Internet and technology support and was upgraded from 24 megabits per second to 36 Mbps in October, Foresman said. That's up from 6 Mbps in 2006.

More than 425 devices - computers, laptops and tablets - are served by the network in Cottonwood.

"It's worked well for us," Foresman said. "My only issue is what's next if this doesn't continue."

Moscow School District Superintendent Greg Bailey said he thinks the Legislature is likely to pay for the network, which his district counts on for wireless Internet. His concern is that it will come at the expense of other education funding.

"We feel like we could be punished for something that we didn't have any control over," Bailey said.

If the Legislature takes money from elsewhere in the state's education budget, Bailey said he worries teacher salaries or discretionary dollars could be at risk.

And in the unlikely event the network is discontinued, the district's budget would take a direct blow.

"If it goes away, we'll have to take money from other programs to go out and contract on our own," he said. "It could really hit us hard."

His preference, Bailey said, would be for the state to go through the correct bid process so the federal funds would be restored.

"But that might be overly simple, I don't know," he said.

Foresman said she hopes the issue will be one of the first the Legislature takes up this session, which begins Monday.

"We are patiently waiting for a decision on this," she said. "We just need a resolution so we know where we're at."

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Stone may be contacted at mstone@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2244. Follow her on Twitter @MarysSchoolNews.