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”.