A friend with an admitted vested interest in the great state broadband fight serves up a tasty little acorn nonetheless.

I’ve written that Walton money is financing the effort to overturn a state law that protects telecom companies from state competition on providing network broadband service to public schools.

Advertisement

The Walton-financed coalition, FASTERArkansas, hides its spending behind the 501c4 structure that has become so popular in stealth political campaigns. But it is high dollar. A Little Rock consulting firm. Website. Extensive lobbying. Legislative appearances. And so forth. The telephone companies may not have the wealth of the Waltons, but don’t get me wrong:  They have plenty of dough, too. And I still lean FASTERArkansas in this debate.

But get a load of this:

Advertisement

FASTERArkanas tells here the sad story of the financial shorts at Bentonville High School, in the shadow of the empire that created all that Walton wealth. Because it is an affluent school district, it qualifies for less categorical broadband support money.

Bandwidth is a challenge for us at Bentonville just as it is for most Arkansas districts. As a semi-urban district with a well-developed local Telco infrastructure, our challenges are a bit different than for many rural schools. The biggest limiting factor for us is cost, and restrictions on the amount of grant funding we are able to access.

…We have spent an enormous amount on infrastructure already so we’re limited in what we can allocate to extra monthly charges for the additional bandwidth we need at this time. It would be great if the state could help in a more meaningful way.

Poor old Bentonville. But wait …..

Advertisement

Isn’t that the school with the rich and huge football coaching staff? A $9 million football stadium? The new $240,000 scoreboard? The $800,000 worth of new football field turf?

Yup, that’s them.

Advertisement

Maybe Bentonville should just ask the Waltons to do what they do whenever a charter school pops up to drain better students from the Little Rock School District — write a check to cover their shorts. But no, in Bentonville, they expect everyone else to chip in.

Help to Keep Great Journalism Alive in Arkansas

Join the fight for truth and become a subscriber of the Arkansas Times. We've been battling powerful forces for 50 years through our tough, determined, and feisty journalism. With over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 daily email blasts, our readers value great journalism. But we need your help to do even more. By subscribing and supporting our efforts, you'll not only have access to all of our articles, but you'll also be helping us hire more writers to expand our coverage. Together, we can continue to hold the powerful accountable and bring important stories to light. Subscribe now or donate for as little as $1 and be a part of the Arkansas Times community.

Previous article Justin Moore has the Biggest Country Song in the Country (Again) Next article Gambling fight unsettled as special session nears