NWBDC Founder Don Sidlowski joined other experts from around the state in a meeting of stakeholders conducted by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission (PSC) related to the Broadband Grant Program announced by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) at the PSC’s Broadband Summit in April, 2013. Part of the 2013-14 biennial budget, the $4.3 set-aside will be released as grants at the rate of up to $500K per year for the next ten years. For any year where the entire amount is not awarded the remaining balance will roll to the next fiscal year. Since the announcement, the PSC has been working on an interpretation of the legislation (Wis Stats 196.504) and invited stakeholders to this meeting to comment on the process for how the grants should be administered and awarded. Among many points submitted to the PSC, Sidlowski urged the Commission to define “unserved” and “underserved” not by census blocks but population density per square mile. “We believe the term underserved should not be defined solely as being tied to a definitive number of broadband service providers, in this case fewer than 2which implies one or none, and that the definition should be expanded to include or be replaced by a population density per square mile criteria of those with access to service. Current formulas typically use standard census blocks in which if only one individual in the entire block has access to service the entire block is categorized as served. This is a deeply flawed approach which vastly overestimates the amount of geography with access to broadband and grossly underestimates underserved and unserved areas”, said Sidlowski. He also recommended a point system be implemented by which a higher score (and thus chance of being awarded) be given to projects that aim for such things as higher broadband speed and likelihood that the service will not just be made available but actually used. He also suggested the funds be allocated 70/30 with the larger portion of the funds designated for public-private partnership applications, which are specifically identified in the statutory language as being sought after. Said Sidlowski, “the providers do not suffer in any way from this segregation of funding since a town, village or county must in any event team with a provider in order to qualify for grant fund consideration. Adding this grant criteria provision does not shut off funding to the providers, it merely ensures that the majority of project applications will be public-private partnerships. It is precisely at the town, village and county level in the public sector where funds are most scarce and therefore where the majority of the grant funds should be awarded.”

Speaking for 15 minutes in a joint presentation/testimony to the twelve members of the Assembly Speaker’s Task Force on Rural Schools, NWBDC Founder Don Sidlowski emphasized three main points. “First, starting about seven years ago and for all time to come, broadband is core to every curriculum. Students from now on will not be able to graduate without access to broadband. Second, the speed and bandwidth needs will only grow ever larger. They will never get smaller. Schools forced to maintain current speeds due to funding limitations will fall behind in the state and the nation. And third, the kind of public-private partnerships (P3) that have already been demonstrated to work in other sectors must be extended to the education arena”. Chaired by 34th Assembly District Representative Rob Swearingen, the bi-partisan committee (eight republicans and four democrats) were shown what the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) is recommending on their Digital Learning website, including the need for 1 Gbps of broadband capacity for every 1,000 students as early as 2015-17. Representative Swearingen stated that the committee members had agreed that each public hearing they conduct should include one presentational, non-testimony segment of importance to rural schools, and Swearingen noted “I couldn’t think of anything more important to keep in the minds of the task force members at this first hearing than the topic of broadband”.

The Town of Minocqua Broadband & Business Development Committee will team up with the Oneida County Technology Committee to publish a weekly column in the Lakeland Times newspaper devoted to topics related to broadband expansion and adoption as a means to economic development and vitality, education, job creation/growth/retention, and its importance to every facet of life in the 21st century. NWBDC Founder Don Sidlowski serves as chairman of the Oneida County committee, which was chartered by a resolution of the Oneida County Board of Supervisors and operates under the auspices of the Oneida County Economic Development Corporation (OCEDC). Sidlowski and Minocqua committee chairman Pete Otis concurred that the opportunity to spread the word in the community via means of this weekly column is an educational opportunity without match. The joint committees expect to continue submitting the weekly articles indefinitely.

At the request of Representative Rob Swearingen (State of Wisconsin, Assembly District 34) NWBDC Founder Don Sidlowski will provide a technology overview on the topic of the importance of broadband to the educational system in Wisconsin to the 12-member bipartisan Speaker’s Rural School Task Force at their meeting to be held in Rhinelander, WI on Wednesday, October 23. The task force was commissioned by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (State of Wisconsin, Assembly District 63) who also appointed Swearingen to serve as chairman.