CORINTH – The Corinth school board on Monday accepted a bid to implement district-wide Internet service and other computer service for school year 2013-2014, separate from the state network which it now uses.

School district technology director Bobby Strickland explained that it is necessary to increase the district’s bandwidth because so much of the district’s instructional material has become Internet-based.

Common core testing also will be online with added demand on computer systems, Superintendent Lee Childress said.

Telepak is the vendor selected for the service, to be awarded a five-year contract with a monthly cost of $3,327. Telepak and current service provider AT&T were the only vendors who submitted bids for all of the district’s computer connectivity needs for the coming school year, and AT&T’s bid was $4,006 per month.

While the district’s computing costs will increase compared with costs through the state network, Childress said, the district will continue to receive a 78 percent monthly subsidy for the charges that all school districts receive through a surcharge paid by telephone company customers.

The surcharge will bring the district’s monthly bill down to $732, with a total of $8,783 over the five years of the contract.

lena.mitchell@journalinc.com