REEVES COUNTY, Texas — Broadband internet is essential for communities to function up to speed in the world currently.
Proposition 8 on the Texas ballot passed on Election Day, a prop that created a broadband infrastructure fund to expand high-speed broadband access and assist in the financing of connectivity projects.
The expectation is it will help West Texas quite a bit. The Texas Broadband Development Map shows blue representing high-speed broadband. Blue is in Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and Houston. Yellow is underserved, but central to east is not red, which is unserved and slow speeds. All three colors are sprinkled in the Permian Basin, so this amendment will look to change that and improve lives.
In West Texas, connection can be hard.
“Very ironic that we had a hard time connecting for this interview," said Brent Jaco, superintendent of Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD, when our Zoom call began.
Perhaps it will soon get easier.
“Proposition 8 passage really impacts the education sector, the health sector and then just the basic economy of our rural communities which are often struggling, and this is only going to help," said Dr. Adrian Billings, associate academic dean of Rural and Community Engagement at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center Permian Basin.
Jaco said the COVID-19 pandemic revealed broadband challenges in West Texas.
“We had an infrastructure problem with broadband internet," Jaco said. "We really try to teach our kids that you can learn anywhere at anytime, and so to do that, you have to have good connectivity and good broadband access.”
Dr. Billings explains that good broadband access is also needed to better healthcare in the Permian Basin.
“Even when there is broadband access, compared to our urban cities, that broadband speed is lower," Dr. Billings said. "And that has consequences because that makes it more difficult to do things like telehealth visits, which are very important for improving access to care in our rural communities.”
Telehealth provides basic care over the internet, and it also grew due to the pandemic.
“We really recognize that telehealth has to continue forward to improve access to care," Dr. Billings said. "Because it, again, it does enable access to care when there is not a local provider present.”
With increased funding now available, so is better connection.
“We’ll be working with our county and our city to go after those grants and those opportunities, and work with them or developing a plan that we can bring broadband into Reeves County and into Pecos, and be more competitive and give our kids a fair shake at what other kids have in bigger cities," Jaco said.
Dr. Billings echoed that sentiment, noting that this support can make sure rural areas have what they deserve.
Jaco told NewsWest 9 that previous efforts to improve broadband were just band-aids for a deep wound, calling this a win for Texas.