Educators Support Home Internet
In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, at least 124,000 public and private schools have closed, affecting over 55 million students. As districts work to provide online learning opportunities for their students, many students will face challenges completing this new course work because of inadequate home internet access. According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, 14 percent of children had no internet access at home in 2017, the most recent year available. Moreover, major equity gaps exist—12 percent of White students had no internet access at home, compared to nearly 20 percent of Black and Latino students and 37 percent of Native students.
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) E-rate program helps offset the cost of internet access in schools and libraries. We ask for your assistance to encourage the FCC to allow E-rate to fund home internet access for students as well. With your support, this policy change can impact educational equity dramatically for millions of students.
Closing the Homework Gap: Questions from Superintendents to the FCC
Question #1: Julie Mitchell, Superintendent, Rowland Unified School District, California
Question #2: Marlon Styles, Superintendent, Middletown City Schools, Ohio
Question #3: David Miyashiro, Superintendent, Cajon Valley Union School District, California
Support Closing the #homeworkgap. Share a Tweet!



ClicktoTweet: Our homes are now our classrooms. Congress needs to expand home internet so learning continues while school buildings are closed. #Erate #homeworkgap #FCC
ClicktoTweet: Schools are closed, but classes are open online. Every student needs access to the internet. We need at least $5 billion to expand #Erate and close the #homeworkgap
ClicktoTweet: The #HomeworkGap is real. @FCC can close it through #Erate. What are they waiting for?
What's Happening Now?
More than 7,500 educators and others joined together to send a strong message to federal policymakers. You can read the letter here. We made the statement that
Students need internet access at home to continue learning while school buildings are closed.
Unfortunately, we haven't been completely heard!
Congress passed a historically huge stimulus package in response to the coronavirus crisis but didn’t include additional funding for home internet access.
Legislation has been introduced in both the House and Senate to do so, but Congress has yet to pass it. An estimated $5 billion is needed to close the Homework Gap for the next school year.
What's congress waiting for?
Join the fight to bring broadband home to the nation’s underserved students
Sign the letter here to continue to show your support!
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