In the best of times, Michigan’s rural public-school districts face major hurdles in accessing reliable internet service to provide instructional technology that helps students succeed in remote parts of the state.

This is particularly true in the Eastern Upper Peninsula Intermediate School District (EUPISD), where educators realized early on during the COVID-19 pandemic that a community-wide plan of action was needed to serve the district’s more than 6,100 students in grades K–12, college students, and early education students in Head Start.

Jason Kronemeyer, a veteran EUPISD employee of 25 years, and his colleagues learned federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds could be applied toward broadband connectivity. The federal funding was made possible by President Biden’s American Rescue Plan COVID-19 relief fund.

Fortunately, Kronemeyer had previously envisioned the formation of the EUPConnect Collaborative and was able to quickly call on community partners to help. After doing the math, he realized partners would need to commit an amount equal to 3% of their federal ESSER funding to help ensure students – along with the district’s roughly 53,000 residents, have access to reliable internet service.

“COVID-19 made people realize how important connectivity is, and the American Rescue Plan funds made this connectivity leadership project possible,” recalled Kronemeyer, who is currently the EUPISD’s Director of Technology. “The more rural you are, the more partnerships you need. Working together helps ensure that service providers have what they need to keep costs under control.”

Soon all 19 school districts in the Eastern Upper Peninsula, three regional hospitals, Bay Mills Community College, and 60% of municipal governments were on board with the plan. Funding to meet the connectivity demands of 60-70% of the 36,000 viable service locations was in place as of December 2023 with a goal of funding committed to serve 100% of 911 service addresses by 2025.

“American Rescue Plan funds were critical in getting the project started because without them, it would have been difficult to move things forward if you were spending all of your time fundraising,” Kronemeyer said. “It was essential that school boards endorse this regional effort, as greater support increases the likelihood that needs will be satisfied.”

The project is advancing successfully and with less than a year remaining to be fully funded, schools and communities in the Eastern Upper Peninsula are close to ensuring full connectivity throughout the consortium. Once all 911 service locations are allocated funding, the collaborative expects the internet service providers and other infrastructure partners will be able to complete the construction and provision service by the end of 2026. The collaborative is now focusing on digital literacy programming throughout the region to maximize the benefits that digital connectivity can provide.

“The possibilities are endless if all of the families in the community have connectivity,” said Jaime Clark, Moran Township Education Association president, teacher, and Technology Director. “Having broadband available to students will be a game changer. In addition, many teachers live in rural areas and have limited connectivity. Programs can be offered to parents and community members and there will be many more resources for parents to reference when working on things with their students.”