The Milwaukee Public Schools district is considering using WiMAX to deliver high-speed Internet access to students whose families can’t afford a phone line or are moving too frequently to maintain a wireline connection. It would be one, if not the first, school district to use its publicly allocated spectrum in this way.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, MPS would use the spectrum currently licensed by the FCC for its television channels at the 2.5 GigaHertz frequency. It is in line to receive a federal matching grant to help fund the WiMAX deployment, which is projected to cost $500,000. MPS has allocated $220,000 for its local matching funds, and expects to receive $200,000 from the federal Department of Commerce.

The other two local educational entities in the Milwaukee Area Instructional Network – the Milwaukee Area Technical College and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee – have declined to participate in the WiMAX effort. Each institution has four channels at the 2.6 Ghz frequency. Like other educational entities, they must use that allocated spectrum by 2008 or it will be auctioned off to private interests.

The MPS service could be integrated with the city of Milwaukee’s planned WiFi service at a later date, the newspaper said.

MPS officials told the Journal Sentinel that their students cannot compete with students elsewhere who have high-speed Internet access when it comes to post-secondary educational opportunities. The school district is working on a separate initiative to try to get PCs for its students.