Bill Lucia

The US Census Bureau estimates that nearly 1-in-10 households with school-aged children lack a consistent internet connection that can be used for educational purposes at a time when millions of kids have been forced out of classrooms by the coronavirus. Among 60 million households with children in public or private schools, about 5.4 million, or just over 9%, have internet available only “sometimes,” “rarely,” or “never” for educational purposes, the estimates suggest.

The rural broadband fund that Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai proposed on April 12 would rely on funding from an existing broadband program slated to expire in 2020, while also setting higher standards for internet speeds. Around $2 billion has been available annually in recent years through the Connect America Fund and that same amount would be shifted to the new fund -- dubbed the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund --said Mark Wigfield, a spokesman for the FCC. The new program, as envisioned, would differ from the Connect America Fund in some key ways, Wigfield said.