Congress recently passed the bipartisan Broadband Equity, Access, & Deployment (BEAD) Program providing states with the unique opportunity to build out broadband access in rural and underserved areas. As President of Southern Preparatory Military Academy, the official military school for Alabama, I understand how crucial it is to get our cadets connected to high-speed internet access. With Alabama receiving over one billion dollars in BEAD program funding, there will never be a better opportunity to bridge the digital divide and bring high-speed internet to unserved locations.
Southern Prep’s campus is in Camp Hill, Alabama, a rural community that is in desperate need of connectivity. Expanding broadband is a top priority for both our academy and our community at large, and I am grateful that State Representative Ed Oliver and Governor Kay Ivey have been champions for rural broadband.
Unfortunately, the Biden administration is focused on leveraging federal dollars to conduct a political agenda that forces its liberal politics on our state and will stand in the way of Southern Prep and Camp Hill getting online. We need to put our students and citizens first by protecting our taxpayer dollars meant for broadband from the Biden Administration’s liberal-wish list so we can deliver on BEAD’s promise of 100% connectivity in our state.
Building out internet in Camp Hill and some of the more rural corners of our state is a big undertaking, and BEAD funding is meant to make that possible. Our state has a choice now: we can put together a proposal that prioritizes leftist social policy and scares away experienced providers, or we can create a plan that focuses on getting rural Alabama connected. While the Biden administration wants us to impose onerous workforce requirements and recommends strict price ceilings, Governor Ivey has the power to stand up for our state and say no to these absurd demands.
BEAD is about getting people connected to the internet. It is not about advocating for liberal social policy, interfering with market capitalism by imposing price controls or creating new government-controlled utilities. The suggestions in the Biden administration’s BEAD plan just do not make sense for our communities. Rural communities in Alabama have been waiting long enough for broadband. We do not need – and we cannot afford – more bureaucratic red tape slowing us down.
Jared Norrell is a retired Lt. Colonel from the United States Army and serves as President of Southern Preparatory Academy in Camp Hill, Alabama.
