III. Policy Recommendations

The digital divide has put millions of students at a distinct disadvantage, as it has undermined educational achievement and equity. This homework gap was stark before the pandemic and it is even more harmful now for students in schools that continue to rely on remote learning. Simply put, homes are now classrooms and yet our nation’s policies fail to reflect this fact. Remote learning is likely to continue, perhaps off and on unpredictably, in large parts of the country for the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year. Millions of students with either nonexistent or inadequate broadband access at home are facing months of lost learning, and could potentially fall further behind due to a lack of connectivity at home. Steps taken to improve connectivity and technology adoption now will pay dividends even after schools reopen on a more permanent basis, since studies show that student achievement is higher at schools that rely on technology to enhance their curriculum.

This report profiles the many innovative options that school districts have pioneered to build or extend wireless broadband connectivity out to student households that cannot afford to purchase high-speed internet access at home. More and more school districts and local governments are concluding that investing in public network infrastructure—including community Wi-Fi networks and private mobile networks operating on public access CBRS spectrum—are a cost-effective way to ensure nearly all students have the broadband internet access they need, as well as to direct access to the school’s network resources from home and other locations. Thanks to recent efforts to open more unlicensed and shared spectrum for public use, an increasing number of school districts are partnering with their local government to extend network access to students at home and, in some towns, Lifeline internet access to the general public as well. Local schools and other institutions know the specific needs of their students and community, and should be empowered to devise their own solutions to the homework gap.

Because the homework gap is far wider in low-income communities, public funding dedicated to this problem will be required. Congress recognized this when it created the E-Rate program. Initially, the need was a high-capacity connection to the school building. Later, in 2014, the FCC correctly recognized it had become critical to create a second category of E-Rate funding to wire the individual classrooms, labs, and ultimately entire school campuses with Wi-Fi so that students and teachers could be on their own devices in any class at any time. E-Rate’s Category Two funding for Wi-Fi and other internal networking needs has largely met this goal.

Now, particularly as the country has and continues to experience the pandemic closures, it’s clear that E-Rate needs to add a third category of support for schools. This third category would provide service for schools with a large percentage of low-income students who are disproportionately disconnected from digital technology when they go home each afternoon. At a minimum, the FCC needs to ensure that the E-Rate program, and the rules associated with it, do not preclude schools and libraries from using the networks they build using program funding to extend connectivity beyond their walls and campuses. Remote learning should not be a mere happenstance of the current pandemic; and it should also not be treated, as it is now, as a luxury for the better-off students who benefit as their disconnected peers fall behind. Increasingly all students are reliant or heavily dependent on a strong home broadband connection to foster the best learning environment.

Whether or not overall funding for E-Rate is increased, the FCC needs to provide Category Two funding flexibility for schools and libraries to decide how best to allocate their IT budget to best serve their communities. If the FCC continues to refuse to update E-Rate’s outdated and restrictive rules, then Congress should step in and enact legislation to increase both funding and local flexibility. Congress can and should direct both funding and clarifying language to send support to local institutions to bridge the homework gap and ensure students and their families without broadband access are connected.

Finally, Congress and the FCC need to take a holistic look at solving the homework gap, and this means solving the digital divide generally. Improving broadband competition, strengthening programs such as Lifeline, and taking measures to catalyze broadband adoption will not only help education, but also empower individuals with modern-day employment options, health care, financial services, information services, communication, commerce, entertainment, and much more.