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Legislative Alert: WiscNet Extension
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | January 9, 2012
This is a priority Legislative Alert on WiscNet for your immediate action.
You might recall that as part of the 2011-13 biennial budget, the Legislature adopted a provision requiring WiscNet to end its relationship with the UW effective July 1, 2013. The WiscNet board is currently working on a plan to re-create WiscNet to comply with the law. However, it takes time to unwind 30 years of relationships and practice.
Senator Moulton (R-Chippewa Falls) and Representative Wynn (R-Whitewater) have offered legislation extending the time by which WiscNet must end its relationship with the UW by one year, to July 1, 2014.
The extension is desperately needed. Currently, 75 percent of our schools and 95 percent of our libraries receive Internet services through WiscNet. Without the extension, schools and libraries may be forced to reduce bandwith or pay 2-3 times more for Internet services than what WiscNet currently charges. Given current budget realities, paying more is very difficult and cutting bandwith will hurt blended learning efforts which rely heavily on Internet use in the classroom.
By providing a one-year extension, Senator Moulton and Representative Wynn are giving schools and libraries the time to make difficult decisions ahead. We need this time to address how we can ensure affordable broadband and Internet access for our schools. Please contact your legislators ASAP and ask them to support the Moulton-Wynn proposal to extend the WiscNet deadline to July 1, 2014. Use the information above as well as these talking points:
- WiscNet’s efficient and cost-effective Internet service is a vital component of the 21st Century classroom.
- Describe your district’s use of WiscNet and the impact to your district of the loss of WiscNet service (cost, classroom instruction).
- WiscNet members need the extra time this bill provides to implement any Legislative Audit Bureau recommendations and to ensure affordable Internet access throughout Wisconsin.
Please email or call your legislators as soon as possible using the information discussed above. I have provided links to contact information for the Assembly (Assembly Directory) and the Senate (Senate Directory). You can identify your legislators by referring to Who Are My Legislators.
Thanks for listening. And, thanks for all you do on behalf of Wisconsin school children.
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