High school broadband cost a third less than budgeted, after demise of IEN; $1.4M reverting back to state

Out of the $3.64 million that the state Legislature sent out to school districts this year to cover their own local contracts with vendors to provide high school broadband service after courts overturned the $60 million state contract for the Idaho Education Network, only $2,265,800 was spent and the state Department of Education will be reverting $1,374,700 back to the state. “The transition, we’re hearing, went well,” legislative budget analyst Robyn Lockett told the Legislature’s Broadband Access Study Committee this morning; the panel is holding its first meeting all day today. “The actual expenditures came in much lower than the appropriation itself, and again much lower than the IEN structure, which realized a savings to the general fund.”

Lawmakers appropriated $7 million to school districts for the fiscal year that began July 1, but it’s already looking like they won’t need that much, Lockett said. Some federal e-rate matching funds, which can cover up to 75 percent of the costs, have been flowing directly to school districts, she said. That will bring down the costs.

Sen. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d’Alene, asked the reason for the savings. “The short answer is it was cheaper, it cost less money to go directly to the districts,” Lockett said, “but I don’t know if you were purchasing the same things. The school districts certainly will be able to tell you their satisfaction with what they’ve purchased under their local vendors and what they purchased under the IEN structure.” Several presentations from school districts are scheduled as part of today’s meeting.

Will Goodman, president of the Idaho Technology Association, said school districts were purchasing “commodity internet instead of a managed service,” so it didn’t include staff support and some other features that came with the IEN. Another factor driving savings for the coming year is that districts couldn’t get e-rate funds for the last part of this year, because they have to be applied for in the previous year; for next year, they’ll be able to get those funds. “You’ll see about an average of 75 percent savings on the bills just by being able to go out and procure e-rate,” Goodman told the lawmakers. The budget figure was set with the assumption of no federal e-rate funds being available – a worst-case scenario that matched the state Department of Administration’s situation with the IEN.