Wisconsin Preserves Low-Cost Broadband for Schools, Libraries—for Now
RSSBy Michelle Lee
Library Legislative Day rally, co-sponsored by the Wisconsin Library Association and the Wisconsin Educational Media & Technology Association on Tuesday, March 22, 2011 in Madison, Wisconsin. Photo by Steven Platteter. Hundreds of Wisconsin school and public libraries narrowly avoided paying more for Internet service when state lawmakers reached a budget agreement last week to save WiscNet, a nonprofit cooperative that provides low-cost broadband service. After public protests and complaints, the State Assembly removed a proposal that would have required the University of Wisconsin System to cut ties with WiscNet, a network the university helped create in 1990. The university would have also had to return $32 million in federal grants to expand broadband access. Under the new agreement, WiscNet will be allowed to continue to operate for another two years and it will be evaluated by the state Legislative Audit Bureau. The federal grants will remain in place, but the University of Wisconsin Extension would require approval from the state Joint Finance Committee to accept additional funds. A total of 312 K-12 schools, 12 regional school cooperatives, and about 95 percent of the state's 387 public libraries use WiscNet, according to Robert Bocher, a technology consultant for the state Department of Public Instruction. The schools currently pay about $3.03 million and the public libraries pay $154,000 for WiscNet, Bocher said. If the compromise was not made, school districts and public libraries could have faced cost estimates of double or triple their current amount to use Internet service from other providers, said Bocher, who is also a member of WiscNet's board of directors. The state's two-year $66 billion budget will go into effect July 1. Gov. Scott Walker is expected to sign the budget by the end of the month, Bocher said. Kathy Sanders, a library media specialist for the Monona Grove School district, said she was thankful for WiscNet's last-minute reprieve which saved such benefits as a 24-hour access to an online library catalogue, ebooks, research sites, and a parent portal to access student information. "It means we will have an affordable reliable network service and the staff development needed to support those services," Sanders said. She also noted that the school district also uses the Internet for student academic testing. Erlene Bishop Killeen, an elementary school librarian and the library media coordinator for the Stoughton Area School District, also said she's glad WiscNet was saved. The school district currently pays $17,000 for service and Internet service could have cost one and a half or double that amount if WiscNet was discontinued, she said. Bishop Killeen said WiscNet provides good, cost-effective service and it's especially important to some students in the district who still use dial-up service or live in neighborhoods with poor Internet connection. Rhonda Puntney, president of the Wisconsin Library Association (WLA), said the WiscNet agreement "was not the best case scenario for us" because the service could still be changed again in the future. But having the two-year reprieve helps in that it will give librarians more time to educate lawmakers about WiscNet's importance, said Puntney and Lisa Strand, WLA's executive director. "Our next step is to be aware that this is coming back and will be an issue again in two more years," Puntney said. "We have no doubt it will be re-addressed by the legislature then. We really have to show it is a valuable service. It saves the state millions of dollars, it saves taxpayers money, of course. It saves the universities (money) and tuition because all of our state universities are part of the WiscNet system, too." Puntney, a youth services and special needs consultant for the Lakeshores Library System, said they pay about $10,000 a year for WiscNet and the library system estimated their Internet service could have tripled or quadrupled if the agreement was not made. Local and state budget funding still remains a concern for school districts and public libraries. The state legislature's budget calls for reducing state aid to libraries from $16.6 million to about $15 million. The state budget would reduce state aid to school districts from $4.65 billion to $4.26 billion, or 8.4 percent, then raise it by 0.7 percent to $4.29 billion for 2012-2013. The state's common school fund—the portion that supports school libraries—is about $33.6 million and it not subject to the state legislature's overall 8 to 10 percent cuts, Bocher said. Bishop Killeen said she's concerned about the impact future budget cuts might have on the Stoughton Area School District. Bishop Killeen said she is fortunate her school district is very supportive and she still has full-time library aids this fall. But the district could face a shortfall next year. "I'm afraid we will end up on the chopping block because we don't have any more to cut," Bishop Killeen said. "We are a very thrifty district." Joel VerDuin, director of media and technology of the Wausau school district and president-elect of the Wisconsin Educational Media and Technology Association, wrote in an e-mail that his school district's "saving grace" this year from state funding cuts was "an abnormally high number of retirements, but that will not continue to help and it didn't help some districts at all." "The overall point, though, is that schools have been struggling under a finance system that inadequately funds public education," VerDuin said. "With each year, the problem grows a little larger." VerDuin also noted that the Internet will continue to become even more important for libraries because it will become the main distribution network. "Without high-speed Internet, we're really going to be limiting ourselves in terms of the materials we can provide students and our staff, so I see this as a significant point because really it does have a far, long-term reaching impact," he said. This article originally appeared in the newsletter Extra Helping. Go here to subscribe. Congrats to my friend Karyn Schmidt of the Taylor, WI Public Library, pictured with this article, who braved a blustery day to drive four hours to Madison and march with other librarians in March.
The WiscNet reprieve is the ONLY happy news for libraries yet this year in Wisconsin. We're losing funding, we're losing the Maintenance of Effort law that mandated a certain level of municipal funding for libraries, and unionized librarians--including all state agency librarians like me--are losing our collective bargaining rights. How sad is it that we are so very pleased about something staying the same? * = Required information
Reader Comments (1)
Posted by Jennifer on June 21, 2011 10:59:29PM
