Central Vermont schools add Wi-Fi to buses — a model for the nation, says FCC Chairwoman Rosenworcel

With the aid of federal funds, the Central Vermont Supervisory Union is busy giving its school buses an upgrade: equipping them with Wi-Fi, so students can turn long, idle drives into time to do homework. Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel and Sen Peter Welch (D-VT) toured one soon-to-be-minted Wi-Fi school bus at the Williamstown (VT) Middle and High School on October 10. The Central Vermont Supervisory Union used funds from the FCC’s Emergency Connectivity Fund — a COVID-19 era program intended to provide schools with tools to shift to remote learning — to jumpstart its Wi-Fi on school buses effort, said Trey Cates, technology director for the supervisory union. That pandemic-era program will sunset in June 2024. But Rosenworcel hopes to open up a new route for more schools to equip buses with Wi-Fi. Rosenworcel hopes to expand the E-Rate program’s reach to buses; the FCC will consider the matter at its next open meeting.