Closing the School Broadband Gap

[Commentary] Two-hundred forty-five days. School districts are waiting this long for the Federal Communications Commission to make decisions on the fate of funding to bring fiber connectivity to their classrooms. That’s 65 days longer than the average school year. And for Woodman School in rural Montana, it means another school year that students must be bused to a neighboring district for assessments because high-speed internet access is not an option. No school should have to wait that long to provide basic educational opportunity for its students. In January, education organizations recognized the 20th anniversary of E-rate—the FCC program that has connected 39 million students to the broadband they need for the jobs of tomorrow. We’ve come a long way, but we also need to address the emerging red tape that is stalling our students’ learning progress. Unless there is a focused commitment to make sure schools can proceed with planned fiber projects, nearly 750,000 students — mostly in rural areas — will be left on the wrong side of a digital divide, disconnected from the same learning opportunities as students in other regions. These learning opportunities were once luxuries in classrooms, but they are now vital for college and career readiness. Already, 50 percent of jobs require some digital skills. By the end of the decade, 77 percent will require technological skills. Our students will not be ready for what tomorrow brings if we don’t equip their schools with the broadband infrastructure they need. We made it a priority to strengthen the E-rate program six years ago. The program was modernized for the broadband needs of today. And now, we need USAC to finish the job.

[Evan Marwell is the founder and CEO of EducationSuperHighway]