Testimony: California’s K–12 Digital Divide Has Narrowed, but Access Gaps Persist

The COVID-19 pandemic made digital access an educational necessity and highlighted California’s longstanding digital divide—defined as disparities in reliable access to internet and digital devices. In spring 2020, when schools shifted abruptly to distance learning, only 68% of households with school-age children had reliable access to digital devices. As a result of federal, state, and local efforts, 82% of households had reliable device access by fall 2020, with the greatest gains among low-income households, households without any college graduates, and Black and Latino households. Federal and state governments enacted major policy initiatives to lower barriers to access during the pandemic. In the interest of time, I will highlight three such initiatives:

1. The FCC’s Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF), created in 2021. The ECF provides $7.2 billion to help schools and libraries provide internet or devices to students and school staff
2. The FCC’s Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) program. Created in February 2021, EBB provides $3.2 billion to help eligible households connect to the internet. The program was replaced in November 2021 by the $14 billion Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) to connect households for work, school, health care and other services.
3. California State Senate Bill (SB) 156 allocated $6 billion to increase equitable, affordable access to high-speed internet.