16.997 Educational telecommunications access program.

(1) Except as provided in s. 196.218 (4t), the department shall promulgate rules establishing an educational telecommunications access program to provide educational agencies with access to data lines.

(2) The rules promulgated under sub. (1) shall do all of the following:

(a) Allow an educational agency to make a request to the department for access to data lines.

(b) Establish eligibility requirements for an educational agency to participate in the program established under sub. (1) and to receive additional telecommunications access under s. 16.998, including a requirement that a charter school sponsor use data lines to benefit pupils attending the charter school and a requirement that Internet access to material that is harmful to children, as defined in s. 948.11 (1) (b), is blocked on the computers of juvenile correctional facilities that are served by data links [data lines] subsidized under this section.

NOTE: The correct term is shown in brackets. Corrective legislation is pending.

(c) Establish specifications for data lines for which access is provided to an educational agency under the program established under sub. (1) or for which additional access is provided to an educational agency under s. 16.998.

(d) Require an educational agency to pay the department not more than $250 per month for each data line that is provided to the educational agency under the program established under sub. (1), except that the charge may not exceed $100 per month for each data line that relies on a transport medium that operates at a speed of 1.544 megabits per second.

(e) Include the protections specified in s. 196.209 (4) (a) and (b).

(f) Ensure that juvenile correctional facilities that receive access under this section to data lines or that receive additional access under s. 16.998 to data lines and bandwidth use those data lines and that bandwidth only for educational purposes.

(2c) The department shall develop criteria to use to evaluate whether to provide more than one data line to an educational agency. The department shall include in the criteria an educational agency's current bandwidth, equipment, and readiness, and the available providers and any other economic development in the geographic area that the educational agency serves.

(2g) An educational agency that is provided access to a data line under the program established under sub. (1) or to an additional data line under s. 16.998 may not do any of the following:

(a) Provide access to the data line to any business entity, as defined in s. 13.62 (5), unless the business entity complies with all of the following:

1. The business entity is transmitting an event sponsored by the educational agency.

2. The business entity has the permission of the educational agency to record and transmit the event.

2g. The access to the data line by the business entity is through the Internet.

2r. All transmissions through the data line originate or terminate at the site of an educational agency or other governmental agency that is an authorized user of the data line.

3. The business entity reimburses the department for its proportionate share of the cost of the data line used to transmit the event.

(b) Request access to an additional data line for purposes of providing access to bandwidth to a political subdivision under a shared service agreement under sub. (2r) (a).

(2r)

(a) A public library board that is provided access to a data line under the program established under sub. (1) or to an additional data line under s. 16.998 may enter into a shared service agreement with a political subdivision that provides the political subdivision with access to any excess bandwidth on the data line that is not used by the public library board, except that a public library board may not sell, resell, or transfer in consideration for money or anything of value to a political subdivision access to any excess bandwidth. A shared service agreement under this paragraph is not valid unless the agreement allows the public library board to cancel the agreement at any time after providing notice to the political subdivision.

(b) A political subdivision that obtains access to bandwidth under a shared service agreement under par. (a) may not receive compensation for providing any other person with access to the bandwidth.

(c) A public library board shall provide the department with written notice within 30 days after entering into or modifying a shared service agreement under par. (a).

(3) The department shall prepare an annual report on the status of providing data lines that are requested under sub. (2) (a) and the impact on the universal service fund of any payment under contracts under s. 16.974.

(4) If the federal communications commission promulgates or modifies rules that provide rate discounts for telecommunications services to educational agencies under 47 USC 254, the governor shall submit a report to the joint committee on finance that includes any recommended changes to statutes or rules with respect to funding the program established under sub. (1).

History: 1999 a. 9 ss. 2318, 2323 to 2329; 2001 a. 16; 2003 a. 33 ss. 238r, 1073d to 1088d; Stats. 2003 s. 16.997; 2005 a. 25, 344; 2007 a. 20, 97; 2009 a. 28; 2015 a. 55; 2019 a. 9.