Florida's two million-plus schoolchildren, teachers and principals may soon find that their path to the Internet has been shut down unless the state agrees to spend millions more during a tight budget year. The problem is that federal authorities have refused to pay more than $7.6 million that is needed to pay to operate the massive statewide network that provides Internet access to all 67 school districts.
Federal officials have questioned a decision by Education Commissioner Jim Horne and the state technology office under Gov. Jeb Bush to privatize the network known as the Florida Information Resource Network.
In January, the state signed over the network and the employees that work to maintain the network to a Tallahassee company whose main lobbyist is a former campaign manager for Bush.
But in late June, federal authorities turned down a request for more than $7.6 million that Florida planned to use to pay Hayes E-Government Resources Inc. to run the vast network. The federal money is needed in addition to the $5.6 million set aside by state lawmakers to pay for the cost of the system.
The network links all of Florida's public schools to the Internet and offers e-mail services to thousands of teachers as well. All 11 public universities and the state's 28 community colleges also use it.
Department of Education officials have appealed the decision even though a spokesman for federal authorities said Thursday that appeals are only granted about 25 percent of the time.
"We have appealed the decision, and we believe our appeal will be successful," said DOE spokeswoman Frances Marine. "It seems the feds have misinterpreted the (bidding) process. We believe we have chosen the best value for the people of Florida." The loss of federal money could have severe repercussions. The state contract with Hayes states that it can be terminated if Florida does not receive federal assistance to pay for the service. But the problem is that DOE has already shifted employees and equipment over to Hayes. The company took control of the 18-year-old network in July -- and one of its first actions was to no longer allow teachers to dial into the network for free from their homes. If the state fails to receive the federal money, it would have to shut down the network or find the money to pay Hayes to keep it running. That would require Horne and Bush either to turn to state lawmakers or ask school districts to pick up the cost.
Figures included in Hayes contract show the service could cost Alachua County as much as $162,000, more than $183,000 for Polk County, $204,980 for Marion County, $437,589 for Manatee County, $449,550 for Sarasota County and $31,835 for Charlotte County.
State Sen. Lisa Carlton, R-Osprey, chairman of the Senate Education Appropriations Committee, said school districts are already strapped and don't have the money to pay for their Internet service. "In a tight budget year we just had and with the districts tightening their belts I think it would be very difficult for districts at this point to come up with an extra $8 million to fund FIRN," said Carlton. Marine would not say what DOE would do if the federal aid were not granted.
"I wouldn't make an assumption as how we would operate the system," said Marine. "DOE will do whatever necessary to have Internet services available to our schools and our students." DOE officials earlier this year justified privatizing FIRN by saying it would lead to improved services, eliminate system downtime and increased funding. The rationale was that the state could not keep up with the needs of school districts without spending millions more on equipment, so the decision was made to hand the work over to a private firm.
The department and the state technology office selected Hayes, a company whose primary lobbyist is J.M. "Mac" Stipanovich, the campaign manager for Bush's failed bid for governor in 1994. "We are excited about this development and we are confident it will benefit education in Florida," said Ruben Lopez, chief technology officer for DOE back in March. DOE asked for $7.6 million to pay for the service, which was a sizable increase over the $2.47 million that Florida had received the previous year from the Universal Service Administrative Co.
USAC is a nonprofit corporation established by the Federal Communications Commission and is responsible for distributing the $2.25 billion a year directed to help schools and libraries.
It was USAC officials who in late June informed state officials that their request for $7.63 million this year had been denied. USAC officials concluded "price was not the primary factor" that Florida used in selecting Hayes.
Mel Blackwell, vice president of external communications for USAC, explained that FCC rules strictly require that schools and libraries consider the cost of service as the main factor in deciding which vendor to use in providing the Internet access services.
Blackwell also said that USAC handles more than 2,000 appeals a year on funding decisions, but that only about 25 percent of them are granted.
Quelle: The Ledger
