Arizona Aims to ‘Future-Proof’ Rural Schools With E-rate Funding

State government officials and others stressed benefits for rural schools as Arizona seeks to take advantage of up to $100 million in federal E-rate Category One funding for broadband. The state must act quickly to meet a likely April deadline to submit funding applications to the Universal Service Administrative Co., the officials said at an all-day Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) workshop live-streamed Monday. The workshop is part of a rulemaking to create an estimated $8 million-$10 million state match of rural broadband funds with funding from the state USF (see 1701110062). With nearly a quarter of Arizona schools not meeting the national standard of 100 kbps per student -- affecting about 250,000 students -- the E-rate funding is a way to “get rural Arizona into the game,” said Commissioner Andy Tobin (R).

It's one of four states seeking to take advantage of the federal E-rate funding made available by the FCC’s E-rate “modernization” orders from 2014, said EducationSuperHighway State Engagement Manager Sophia Green-Robinson. Kansas is developing a state match, while Maine and Oklahoma did so already, she said. States must act fast, as the federal funds are “use it or lose it,” she warned. The ACC plans to release a second draft of proposed rules “on or about” Feb. 14, with a final vote likely at commissioners’ March meeting, staff said earlier this month.

“Infrastructure is severely lacking in rural Arizona,” said Arizona Commerce Authority Senior Vice President-Economic/Rural Development Keith Watkins. “Broadband is one of those key elements of infrastructure that is holding back the rural Arizona economy.” Accessing the E-rate funding will be “a significant step forward,” he said. Dawn Wallace, director of Republican Gov. Doug Ducey’s Office of Education, said lack of broadband keeps rural schools from accessing cutting-edge education materials, putting them “at a severe disadvantage to their peers in other parts of the states.” State Sen. Andrea Delessandro (D) supported the effort and said she will fight in the legislature for more general-fund money and public-private partnerships.

The funding will help Arizona “future-proof” its schools, said Milan Eaton, State E-rate director for the Arizona Department of Education: Rural schools will gain access to educational expertise they couldn’t offer students before. “Hiring a teacher in rural Arizona is not an easy task,” Eaton said. Funding for schools may indirectly benefit rural communities more broadly, Eaton said. “We see the schools as anchor institutions for the community, and by bringing that access to the schools, now you’ve given the community access in a roundabout way.” Commissioner Doug Little (R) highlighted that: “Indirectly, we’re actually funding the carrier infrastructure that they will later be able to use to expand their commercial operation.”

“The special construction challenge really is in rural Arizona,” said CenturyLink Director-State and Local Government Affairs Jeff Mirasola. The telco is the state’s largest E-rate provider. “Arizona has many low-density areas and remote communities with schools and libraries," said Mirasola. "They are far from the nearest splice point or fiber run. It makes it economically difficult to justify the network investment in these areas, and that’s where the [Arizona USF] fund can make a tremendous difference.”

Mirasola clashed with a Zayo representative about possible funding for overbuilding and dark fiber. The CenturyLink official said the state shouldn’t fund network overbuilding. Zayo Account Director Karen Miller said competition results in better technology and lower costs. Mirasola said that “using dark fiber and the self-provisioning by district-owned networks is not in the public interest” and “underestimates the cost of building, operating and maintaining these networks.” Miller replied that dark fiber is important for the long-term future of rural schools. “Sometimes, enabling the school to own their own dark fiber and self-provision enables that growth because it’s a lot less expensive," she said. “It’s not always ideal for the carriers, but it is for the schools.”

Dark fiber is a “good option in some places,” said the Education Department’s Eaton. “Carriers don’t make money on it, but it actually can be the right answer as long as [schools] know how to maintain it.”

Chairman Tom Forese applauded cooperation between ACC and Ducey’s office. “In the past, there’s been a wall in between the Corporation Commission and other areas of government,” he said. Eaton noted that some previous Arizona broadband projects failed without the commission’s involvement. With the ACC on board, he sees “traction” for this latest effort.