Without Net Neutrality, How Would Internet Companies Treat K-12 Districts?

One of the main fears that school officials have about curtailing “net neutrality” is that internet service companies will have new powers to throttle or block the flow of online content that serves as academic lifeblood for many districts. But gauging whether those worries are justified or overblown requires a lot of speculation about industry behavior, and how it would apply to schools. Chris Lewis, a vice president of the advocacy group Public Knowledge, said dire scenarios envisioned by some school officials are not unrealistic. Lewis envisions ISPs placing new pricing demands on education companies that deliver content, like videos, that require high bandwidth. If those companies agreed to pay more to ISPs, those charges could get passed on to school districts, he said. In addition, it’s possible ISPs could create their own educational content, and charge rival content-providers more for delivery, said Lewis, who is also school board member for a school district in Alexandria (VA). Districts need access to content without “having gatekeepers dictate what services are available online,” he said. “You pay for access to the Internet. It should not be dictated where you can go by a big ISP.”  The possibility that dismantling net neutrality protection could slow down the flow of online content to schools is a potential cause for worry, said Tracy Weeks, the executive director of the State Educational Technology Directors Association. The big issue many districts face today is overcoming bottlenecks in their connectivity, with access slowed because of demands posed by online assessment, videos, and other needs–needs that are steadily increasing.