JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) – With education funding and policy in flux following Monday’s failed veto vote, Alaska lawmakers are rushing to secure internet funding to help rural schools increase internet speeds ahead of a critical deadline.
Earlier Wednesday, House lawmakers added House Bill 193 to the conference calendar, which would put more than $40 million into the Broadband Assistance Grant (BAG) program to help schools increase internet download speeds from 25 megabits per second. to 100 Mbit.
Similar legislation was included in the vetoed education bill, which was repealed after Monday’s vote.
Last month, the Department of Education and Early Development Commissioner Deena Bishop told education leaders to submit their applications to the federal E-Rate program, which requires download speeds of 25 Mbps and 100 Mbps. She said this would allow the school to still be eligible to apply for DEED’s Broadband Assistance Grant, which relies on matching federal funds to pay for download speeds of at least 25 Mbps.
The BAG program deadline is March 27.
Earlier this session, rural lawmakers like CJ McCormick described the detrimental impact current internet speeds are having on the education of rural schoolchildren.
“You hear it all the time that if they’re taking standardized tests, which are usually done on computers over the Internet, everything in the school has to be turned off or they won’t be able to take those tests,” McCormick said at the time said.
That sentiment was echoed by lawmakers when they failed to override the governor’s veto and secure internet funding.
“I’ve had rural students take four days to take the test, and urban students (or those with adequate internet speed) take a day to take the test. It’s hard when you’re taking the test,” Fairbank Republican Senator Click Bishop said.
Sen. Bert Stedman, D-Sitka, called the process “disgusting” when lawmakers failed to override the governor’s veto and secure internet funding.
“A large portion of his bill [SB 140] It’s the internet bill for rural students,” he said. “I have a lot of rural students. I find it disgusting, extremely disgusting, that rural children in our state are effectively being held hostage over our fight over the basic student allocation formula. No, I don’t, I don’t like this. “
The House has a full agenda Wednesday and plans to introduce the bill as part of its supplemental calendar.
Late Tuesday night, House Minority Leader Rep. Calvin Schrager, R-Anchorage, urged the House Majority Leader to bring the bill to a vote.
“Alaska’s rural schools remain in limbo, risking losing critical broadband upgrades that would help close the gap with the state’s urban schools because of a missed deadline,” Schrager said. .”
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