When the Coeur d’Alene School District went out for broadband service to replace the defunct Idaho Education Network, it got four bids, and local firm Ednetics had the lowest bid, district Technology Director Seth Deniston told lawmakers today. “They were the lowest by quite a bit, actually,” Deniston said. From the 2014-15 school year to the 2015-16 school year, the district’s cost dropped from just under $14,000 a month to less than $2,000, and its bandwidth speeds rose from just over 200 mbps to 1000 mbps. “We really feel like we’re able to get a great deal. A big part of that is because of our location on the I-90 corridor here,” Deniston said.

“High-speed broadband is critical to our operations and instruction in our district, everything that we do,” he told lawmakers. He said that ranges from teachers preparing their lessons to students communicating with teachers to remedial and credit recovery programs. Deniston said the Coeur d’Alene district supports the Idaho Education Technology Association’s proposal for future school broadband service. “Our elementary students are using the internet just as much as our high school students are now,” he said. “Internet access is now like air – if we don’t have it in our schools a lot of our teachers and students feel like they cannot breathe.”

Answering questions from lawmakers, Deniston said the Coeur d’Alene district’s broadband service is higher-quality now, and didn’t decline with the end of the IEN; he said school districts may have varying experiences based on their locations.