City, school district combine for internet program for students

The city of Longmont and the St. Vrain Valley School District is combining resources to provide high-quality internet access for the district’s low-income students. City councilors last week agreed to add $100,000 in the city’s broadband fund to help implement a mesh network that keys the program.

The new funding was needed to help cover project costs that are higher than anticipated due to high prices for materials and contractor expenses, according to a city staff report to the city council.

The school district received a $1.3 million grant from the Colorado Department of Education to partner with NextLight, Longmont’s publicly-owned, 100% fiber optic network service for underserved, income-qualified students, the staff report states.

The grant is part of the Connecting Colorado Students Grant Program. The funds will allow the school district pay NextLight to reactivate a decommissioned mesh network that will provide speeds of about 50 Mbps to each user accessing the network for online learning, the report states. 

The school district will reimburse NextLight as equipment and installation expenses are incurred.

 The program is needed to get students and families reliable and robust internet access both at home and school to ensure “equity of opportunity for each and every student,” the staff report states.

The partnership between the school district and NextLight will also expand the Sharing the NextLight program, which provides free broadband service for income-qualified students, the report said.