Of the 42 state research and education optical networks in the United States, only one – Arkansas’s ARE-ON – does not serve grades K through 12.
Why? Because with the passage of Act 1050 in the 2011 88th General Assembly, one word – “educational” – got amended out of the Telecommunications Regulatory Reform Act of 1997. With the loss of just one word, Arkansas went from potential leader to dead last in bandwidth per student.
The mission of ARE-ON, a nonprofit consortium built with $140 million in state and federal funds, is to promote, develop, and apply advanced application and communication technologies to support and enhance education, research, public service, and economic development. Its institutional members include:
- Arkansas Educational Television Network (AETN)
- Arkansas State University, Jonesboro
- Arkansas State University, Beebe
- Arkansas State University, Mountain Home
- Arkansas State University, Newport
- Arkansas Tech University, Russellville
- Black River Technical College, Pocahontas
- Cossatot Community College of the University of Arkansas, De Queen
- College of the Ouachitas, Malvern
- East Arkansas Community College, Forrest City
- Henderson State University, Arkadelphia
- Mid-South Community College, West Memphis
- National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR)
- National Park Community College, Hot Springs
- North Arkansas College, Harrison
- NorthWest Arkansas Community College, Bentonville
- Ozarka College, Melbourne
- Phillips Community College at the University of Arkansas, West Helena
- Pulaski Technical College, Little Rock
- Rich Mountain Community College, Mena
- Southeast Arkansas College, Pine Bluff
- South Arkansas Community College, El Dorado
- Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia
- Southern Arkansas University Tech, Camden
- University of Arkansas Community College, Batesville
- University of Arkansas Community College, Hope
- University of Arkansas Community College, Morrilton
- University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
- University of Arkansas, Fort Smith
- University of Arkansas, Little Rock
- University of Arkansas, Monticello
- University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock
- University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff
- University of Central Arkansas, Conway
- University of Arkansas, Division of Agriculture
Imagine also empowering Arkansas’s 475,000 public school students and their respective communities with this research level Internet2 (and National LambdaRail, Great Plains Network, LEARN, LONI, OneNet) access and capacity, unavailable on the commercial market.
For 178 years, access to a river, railroad and/or Interstate highway has driven economic development in our state. Full educational access to ARE-ON will do more for our individual, familial, community and state economic development than all that has come before us.
The absence of one word stands in our way. By removing “educational,” they removed education from Arkansas and her people, who should insist it and our future be restored.The public should never be prohibited from providing for public schools.