Widespread broadband access needs to be more than campaign photo-op

[Editorial] Lt. Gov. Dan Forest (R-NC) hosted a made-for-a-campaign-commercial media event with Federal Communications Chairman Ajit Pai and a bevy of Republican state legislators at Graham High School in Alamance County to boast about North Carolina being the first state to connect every classroom to high-speed broadband. It is no small achievement. However, it’s not quite his to brag about. If Forest’s fellow Republicans had their way, there would be nothing to celebrate. In 2007 only one Republican, former state Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, voted for the state budget that included the school connectivity initiative. FCC Chairman Pai noted that in the last 11 years North Carolina has received about $700 million of federal e-rate funding. The result is students, no matter their background or schoolroom in the state, have high-speed connectivity. It’s ironic that while Pai celebrates North Carolina’s spread of high speed internet access, he’s been working in Washington to do just the opposite, adopting policies that sharply cut access to high-speed connectivity. Given the lieutenant governor’s vocal praise and commitment to open and free broadband access it would be an abdication of his responsibility if he didn’t tell his political ally, Chairman Pai, that equal access must extend beyond the public school classroom.