Students and teachers who struggle to access the internet at home may get some relief from a sweeping, more than $1 trillion federal investment in infrastructure.
The package鈥攚hich was approved by Congress Nov. 5 and is expected to be signed into law by President Joe Biden鈥攊ncludes nearly $65 billion to improve access to broadband and help the country respond to cyberattacks.
The funding is a good step forward in helping to close the so-called 鈥渉omework gap,鈥� or the difficulty millions of students鈥攑articularly poor, minority, and rural kids鈥攈ave in getting online at home to complete school assignments, said Keith Krueger, the chief executive officer of the Consortium for School Networking, which supports K-12 education technology leaders.
鈥淲hile there鈥檚 been a huge strategy by many school districts to provide hotspots [and get] connectivity to students who don鈥檛 have it, there are still large swaths of the country that are too rural or remote鈥� or have other structural issues that prevent them from accessing the internet, he said. 鈥淎s a country, we really need to solve that. And it鈥檚 not something that school districts alone can solve.鈥�
How will this bill help students with little or no connectivity at home?
The biggest chunk of the money鈥�$42.5 billion in 鈥渂roadband deployment grants鈥濃�攊s aimed at expanding broadband infrastructure to reach families and businesses in rural and other underserved areas. That may help students and teachers who have been unable to take full advantage of district-provided hotspots because the area they live in doesn鈥檛 have the kind of connectivity needed to operate them.
It also includes $14 billion to help low-income households connect to broadband. That could help students who live in connected areas but remain offline because their families can鈥檛 cover the cost of internet service.
That鈥檚 about two-thirds of the 28 million households that aren鈥檛 connected, or about 18 million families, according to a , a non-profit that champions internet access.
The legislation also includes $2.75 billion for 鈥渄igital equity,鈥� designed in part to focus on aspects of connectivity beyond broadband expansion. That funding could go to a wide-range of expenses, anything from laptops for students to digital literacy classes for senior citizens at the local library, according to a from Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who championed the program.
The money would be used in part to pay for two new grant programs, including $300 million in grants over five years to help states create and implement plans to improve digital equity. Another $250 million over five years would support individual groups鈥� and communities鈥� digital equity projects.
Still, it鈥檚 important to keep in mind that the homework gap may persist, even after more students have at least some broadband access at home, Krueger said. For instance, students may not have a connection strong enough to stream video lessons, or enough devices in their household to go around.
鈥淭he media headline has been about the unconnected, but the under connectivity is extremely important,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t isn鈥檛 just a matter of handing [kids] a hotspot or giving them a cheap device that can鈥檛 do video conferencing. We have to invest in robust tools.鈥�
