Divya Sridhar is the Director of Digital Equity Policy for ExcelinEd.
In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, high-speed broadband internet has become as important to a student’s education as textbooks, pencils and paper. Despite its new priority spot on the back-to-school shopping list, high-speed broadband is not equitably accessible or affordable for many American families.
According to the most recent American Community Survey, more than 35 million U.S. households lacked fiber, cable or DSL broadband service when the pandemic arrived in early 2020. Lower income families were far more likely than their better-off neighbors to be included in that figure. In fact, 3 out of 10 households with an income below $35,000 had no home broadband connections of any kind — even cell phone data plans — at the end of 2019.
Not surprisingly, these access gaps fall heavily on communities of color. About 30% of Black Americans and 29% of Hispanic Americans lacked fiber, cable or DSL connections in 2019, compared to 23% of White Americans. A recent study by Common Sense Media, Southern Education Foundation and The Boston Consulting Group found that “Black, Latinx, and Native American students… make up about 55% of disconnected students while representing about 40% of the total student population.”
As school systems struggled last Spring to adapt to the pandemic using online learning systems, previously obscure internet access gaps in many communities suddenly became vitally important. School districts, states and cities across the country scrambled to find ways to get their unconnected students online. Some plans were ambitious — mass distribution of mobile wireless hotspots, bulk discount deals with Internet Service Providers (ISPs), heavy promotion of ISPs’ existing low-income offerings where they were provided — while others were created out of desperation, such as deploying “parking lot Wi-Fi” at schools and libraries.
Federal, state and local lawmakers have recently appropriated billions of emergency dollars to expand broadband to underserved communities. For example, the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program (EBBP) is a $3.2 billion provision of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (CAA), which will reimburse ISPs for providing broadband service and devices to low-income households. The FCC is finalizing rules regarding the EBBP. The program is likely to launch in March or April.
The EBBP increases equitable access and affordability of broadband, with a focus on low-income households that include students eligible for the National School Lunch Program. This EBPP will require state and local coordination and initiative to drive positive, sustainable change to close the digital divide and expand broadband access to all communities.
Near-term emergency measures in states represent new opportunities for education policymakers and educators to drastically reduce the “homework and classwork gap” afflicting schools throughout the country. Creating a permanent broadband benefit program for low-income households — one that learns from the weaknesses and builds off the successes of EBBP — may be one way to close digital connectivity and device gaps for good.
It is time that stopgap measures become permanent solutions. At the beginning of 2021, millions of students remain unconnected or under-connected. Asking students to do homework in a parking lot, a year after the crisis began, is unsustainable for families and schools. WE must think about connectivity in the way we think about other school materials; therefore, it is imperative that high-speed broadband be available at low-to-no cost for our most at-risk students. Going forward, virtual education will be an integral part of the regular school day for millions of students. This means we must invest in digital equity now.
Recent federal and state funding appears to offer clear, short-term pathways to success that can make a difference for more households to get connected, with an emphasis on historically disadvantaged communities of color. By aligning state efforts to the EBBP, we can expand home broadband to all communities.
Education policymakers and educators can and should be leading voices for action to create a long-term broadband benefit for all Americans who need it.
