Access to broadband can have a significant impact on the delivery of education.
E-rate is a discount/reimbursement program for broadband and telecommunications services for schools and librairies. OSIT has contracted consultants from E-rate Central, a national leader in E-rate consulting, to engage Nevada schools and libraries to provide tailored application assistance in order to increase the amount of federal E-rate funding applied for and recieved.
OSIT and Nevada State E-rate Team are providing strategic guidance and implementation strategies to 15 Nevada Counties, municipalities and tribal governments. These counties, municipalities and tribal governments are seeking enhanced broadband infrastructure investments in their region and better, more cost effective and reliable broadband service for the public sector, businesses and residents.
Currently there are many areas in Rural Nevada where the bandwidth necessary to provide telehealth services is not available, often due to cost. The Nevada Governor’s Office of Science Innovation and Technology’s (OSIT) goal is to, by 2025, connect all rural hospitals, health clinics, and state correctional facilities to a broadband connection sufficient to provide telehealth services.
Stories throughout Nevada about the lack of local expertise have led the Governor’s Office of Science, Innovation, and Technology (OSIT) to engaged consultants from E-rate Central, a national leader in building community connectivity, to assist in developing and implementing Whole Community Connectivity programs tailored to unique rural communities across rural Nevada.
E-rate is a discount/reimbursement program for broadband and telecommunications services for schools and libraries (applicants). Discounts for applicants range from 20 to 90 percent based on the level of poverty and rural or urban status. Nevada public school districts on average receive a 70% discount rate.
Broadband, and the infrastructure that supports it, is a critical driver of the state’s economy. It impacts commerce, education, transportation, public safety, health care and so much more.