Limited Internet access a challenge for Detroit kids

[Commentary] In communities in Michigan and across the country there are tales of students sitting after-hours in parking lots outside of libraries and inside the booths of fast-food restaurants just looking for a signal — the Internet connectivity they need to get their schoolwork done. Today, roughly seven in 10 teachers assign homework that requires access to broadband. But data from where I work, at the Federal Communications Commission, suggests that as many as 1 in 3 households do not subscribe to broadband service at any speed — because of a lack of affordability and lack of interest. In Detroit (MI), the numbers are even more troubling — seven in 10 students have no way to get online at home. It's basic arithmetic: For too many students, these numbers don't add up. Where they overlap is what I call the "homework gap."

Tackling this problem is not easy. We need to take on the homework gap at home. We can start by making commonsense changes to the FCC's Lifeline program. Instead of having the Lifeline program support only voice service, we should allow consumers to choose between applying the same support to either voice or broadband service. Next, we can do more to increase the availability of Wi-Fi. At the FCC, we can help by taking this into account as we manage the nation's airwaves. We need to make it a priority to ensure there is adequate spectrum for Wi-Fi and do it in a way that protects other services that make use of the airwaves. If we do this right, we can help our students and our economy — because more than $140 billion in economic activity each year is generated by unlicensed spectrum, or Wi-Fi. The homework gap is the cruelest part of the digital divide. But we can take steps now to tackle it — steps that will help students get their schoolwork done, help expand access to the Internet, and help grow our digital economy.