FCC Waiver Could Net State Millions For School Broadband

The state could receive millions of dollars to pay for broadband access to schools from federal E-rate funding that had been withheld over a three-year period, the Arkansas Department of Information Systems announced Friday.

The state is waiting on the federal government to tell it how much E-rate funding it will receive.

The money would be coming thanks to a waiver request granted to DIS by the Federal Communications Commission, which had suspended funding to the department for program years 2012-14 because of a rule requiring applicants to have a signed contract in place before applying for E-rate support. DIS negotiates contracts and pays provider invoices for services for Arkansas schools and libraries connected to the state network.

In its waiver application dated March 11, DIS argued that the services had been competitively bid and signed contracts previously had been awarded with optional one-year extensions, a DIS news release said. DIS argued that denying funding would reduce the state’s ability to provide broadband access to schools. It told the FCC that the state would change its procurement process so that it matches the E-rate funding cycle.

E-rate is a federal program using telecommunications fees that helps schools and libraries obtain telecommunications and internet access.

Why did DIS wait three years to seek the waiver? Janet Wilson, DIS public information coordinator, said new DIS director Mark Myers started his job in January and couldn’t speak for the previous director.

“When he came in, K-12 broadband was a top priority, so one of the first things he looked at was all broadband programs related to DIS, and one of those was E-rate,” she said. “So one of the first things he did was start having direct meetings with FCC, and one of the outcomes of those meetings was the need to file the waiver request.”