MCNC to oversee new initiative to network N.C.'s public schools

RALEIGH - Internet service providers are set to become the chief financial beneficiaries of a multimillion-dollar public school broadband initiative approved by state legislators.

Also gaining is nonprofit MCNC, which has been tapped to maintain and operate the network, which will expand on an existing high-speed network owned by the University of North Carolina System and infrastructure belonging to state government's Office of Information Technology Services.

MCNC could receive about $2 million annually from funds allotted to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction for the project.

To fund school broadband services, state legislators approved $12 million in annual recurring funds to the State Board of Education during the just-concluded session. That amount was about half of what the plan's proponents requested for the 2008-09 period.

The "School Connectivity Initiative" also will leverage funding from a federal telecom program called "E-rate," which is expected to provide up to $9 for every $10 appropriated by the state.

Phil Emer, director of technology and systems operations at The Friday Institute, is overseeing the planning for the project. He says negotiations are under way with companies including AT&T, Embarq, Time Warner Cable, Verizon and smaller telecom companies for use of their infrastructure.

Emer estimates that about 90 percent of the project's funds will go toward paying telecom companies for "last-mile connectivity."

Rebecca Garland, executive director of the State Board of Education, says a uniform Internet infrastructure would replace a ragtag assembly of connections that have been put together by individual school districts over the years.

Garland says the completed network would allow services such as video while also encouraging collaboration among North Carolina students and students in other countries.

For MCNC, headed by newly named CEO Joe Freddoso, the contract to manage the school network's backbone expands the portfolio of services it offers to the state. In 2007, the nonprofit will receive $6.6 million from the UNC System for administering the North Carolina Research and Education Network.

Since being cut off from direct state appropriations in 1999, MCNC periodically has attempted to regain state funding but so far has been unsuccessful. Freddoso says attempting to re-establish a state appropriation is something the nonprofit considers annually.

Among the chief backers of the public school connectivity project is the Business Education Technology Alliance, or BETA, a 27-member commission comprising legislators, education officials and representatives of telecom companies. Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue chairs the group.

To cover BETA's expenses, private companies were invited to be sponsors, with each paying from $1,000 to $10,000. Signing up were Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks, Tech 5 Corp., Time Warner Cable, CIIT, Bank of Granite, HCS Systems, Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Kelly Services, Martin Marietta Materials and Wyeth.

State Chief Information Officer George Bakolia, who in the past has called for IT projects to be broken into smaller chunks, says safeguards are being put in place to prevent cost overruns.

"My office has already assigned a project manager assistant to assist and validate every step of this effort," he says.

In addition to approving the cohesive Internet backbone for schools, legislators are considering a proposal to spend $7,233 per classroom to equip schools with digital whiteboards, data projectors, computers and document cameras. That project is estimated to cost $200 million to $300 million.