Dive Brief:
- Under the recently modernized e-rate program, $9 billion dollars of federal funding is available to schools to help local high-speed internet projects over the next five years.
- Common Sense Media and SETDA partnered to release an online toolkit to help schools find and apply for the funds.
- Although many U.S. schools have subpar internet connections and are eligible for available funding, many reportedly have not applied.
Dive Insight:
Last year, the Federal Communications Committee e-rate program was updated for the first time in 20 years, in order to maximize options for schools and libraries looking to purchase high-speed broadband internet. In 1996, when the initiative began, just 14% of K-12 schools had web connections. The funding is supposed to help all schools become connected.
The nonprofit State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) and Common Sense said via press release Thursday that "more than 60% of schools do not have adequate capacity or speed to perform most functions required in today's highly digitized learning and administrative environments."
The new toolkit contains an overview document, a WiFi implementation guide, and a "State Construction Matching Grant" sheet, among others. The kit also offers downloadable .pdf guides for district administrators and for policymakers.