Education officials have pulled the plug this year on the biggest Internet expansion in Georgia school history, after a mistake nixed any chance to get what they need most to flip the switch: Money.
At stake is a chance to bring all 180 school districts up to speed in an increasingly digital era. Handheld tablets, whiteboards and computers multiply every year in classrooms across the Peach State. Parents, too, are increasingly encouraged to log on and sign in to a district’s servers to see teacher messages and classroom assignments.
An arrangement is set up to multiply the schools’ capability, but $3.6 million in equipment is needed. Somebody forgot to get that added to an upcoming bond issue, and nobody noticed.
The state’s K-12 education network wobbles along on a paltry three megabits per second (Mbps) for each school district — about the same as some regular household Internet packages.
The state’s top school technology chief, Bob Swiggum, wants to change that. He plans to send 100 Mbps of Internet to each school district — and therefore to each school — across the state, expanding the online highways they use by more than 3,000 percent.
Imagine lightning fast connections inside classrooms and out, with room for every online system user whether they be teacher, parent or student — even if they all log in at the same time.
“Eventually, this has the potential to change the face of education,” Swiggum said.
Even better from Swiggum’s view, he’s developed a working relationship with Curtis A. Carver Jr., vice chancellor and the top technology guru for the University System of Georgia. The result is a partnership that will allow the planned Internet expansion to occur on a tried-and-true network developed by the university system called PeachNet.
PeachNet was created more than 20 years ago. It provides reliable, high-speed Internet connectivity to the state’s colleges, universities and public libraries. It has a 10-Gigabit backbone, supporting online learning, a digital library and other services that keep some of Georgia’s top institutions competitive with the nation’s best universities.
It seems like a match made in heaven. But here’s where the complications begin.
Many districts don’t have the hardware to handle the expansion, including so-called “edge devices” such as routers which — in everyday terms — deliver the Internet from a provider to users at specific locations.
As the provider, PeachNet, too, needs more of these devices to make its Internet delivery.
It will take about $3.6 million to build-out the PeachNet network to connect to the districts. The plan was to pay for PeachNet to get the devices using state bond money.
The problem?
The devices never made this year’s state-approved project list for bond money.
“It’s nobody’s fault but mine,” said Swiggum, who’s been working on the planned expansion for more than a year. “Along the way, I forgot to tell enough people about this so that enough money was set aside.”
To make matters worse, few people outside the university system realized the money wasn’t there until a few weeks ago.
That’s when the system accidentally issued a notice requesting proposals from vendors who sell the devices.
“Issuing the RFP (request for proposals) without having funding was a mistake,” system spokesman John Millsaps said.
“We did know the funds were not there,” Millsaps said. “We did not know that the RFP was issued. When we found that out, we recalled it because we knew the funding was not there.”
All is not lost.
Swiggum expects the project will be delayed a year, and he estimated it will take two to four years to complete it. And he is vowing to bend the ear of every state official and lawmaker early next year at the Capitol as they compile their newest list of projects paid for with state bonds.
The state Legislature also helped matters this year by including money for the first of a three-year, $20 million grant that will help school districts — particularly rural districts outside metro Atlanta — to buy edge devices for themselves.
It’s worth noting that districts, especially in metro Atlanta — which typically raise more money thanks to higher enrollment counts and a plusher tax base — are in a better position to use the Internet boost right now.
Still, none of the major districts here, including the Gwinnett and Fulton county school systems, have indicated they would be hurt by the delay.
And Swiggum said it may actually give other districts time to catch up.
“It’s a double-edged sword,” he said. “I’d prefer we didn’t have a delay but it’s not a horrible thing.”
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