Rural schools in Alaska are turning to satellite internet as traditional providers become too expensive.
The Lower Yukon School District, serving around 2,000 students, recently switched from GCI to Starlink satellite internet in response to budget constraints. The move was made to address inadequate speeds that affected online classes and testing. With Starlink, download speeds are expected to be up to 10 times faster, while annual costs are significantly lower.
According to Joshua Walton, the district’s technology director, the decision was not taken lightly. “We were staring down the barrel of a big deficit,” Walton said, reports Alask Public. “After a lot of research, we made the plunge.”
The Southeast Island School District also made a similar switch. Technology director Everett Cook said the district was spending $1.2 million annually on slow internet connections. They replaced GCI with Starlink at most schools, dropping annual costs to $18,000.
Despite the switch to Starlink, the Lower Yukon School District will still rely on federal subsidies to cover over $600,000 of their new network costs this year. For rural districts, subsidies from the E-Rate program have been crucial for connectivity, but concerns are growing about their long-term sustainability.
Valerie Oliver, a former state E-Rate consultant, said rising costs could jeopardize the ability to fund the program. “If we’re not careful and let service providers jack up prices, we’ll never be able to pay our non-discounted share,” she said.
The future of these subsidy programs remains uncertain as the state evaluates the sustainability of its Broadband Assistance Grant (BAG). The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development has not yet commented on the long-term viability of the program.
