(The Center Square) - New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham attended a groundbreaking for a broadband project that will improve internet services at Midway and San Antonio Elementary Schools of the Socorro school district Friday.

The project will provide high-speed internet to two of the four schools in New Mexico that still lack reliable broadband internet.

The governor praised the school district, state education and broadband leaders for making this happen. 

“We are so close to seeing every public school in New Mexico connected to high-quality and high-speed internet,” Governor Lujan Grisham said in a press release issued by her office. “Access to internet has real impacts on the quality of education that modern students receive, and this is a major step forward in bridging the digital—and educational – divide.”

The school district had been trying to improve its internet systems for nearly a decade, according to the release. Due to the increased internet use in schools, the “digitization of learning materials outpaced the capabilities of the existing wireless medium,” according to the release.

“It’s a team effort, and we appreciate the district personnel who keep persevering,” Jeffrey Tull, Technology Director at Socorro Consolidated Schools, said in the release. “We thank the governor and her Office of Broadband Access and Expansion, the Western New Mexico Communications team, and most importantly, the teachers who have continually struggled with the challenges of intermittent connectivity and found ways to overcome them.”

Western New Mexico Communications is leading the project that will connect about 200 students at the two rural elementary schools. 

Most of the money from the project comes from federal E-rate funding, which is “designed to assist schools in obtaining affordable high-speed internet and telecommunications services,” according to the release. Additionally, the state is spending $62,000 on it.

“These projects allow us to chip away at the digital divide that has plagued New Mexico over the years. This is a quality-of-life issue and our mission from the governor is clear,” Office of Broadband Director Kelly Schlegel said in the release. “We are wholly dedicated to ensuring that underserved and unserved communities have the resources necessary to realize reliable and affordable high-speed internet for all."