The federal government’s latest plan to close a “homework gap” for kids who lack Wi-Fi at home is to bring such services to one place they may spend hours per week: on the bus to and from school. The move is one facet of the president’s overall goal to bring high-speed internet access to every American. But the school bus plan is drawing objections from Republicans that the cost isn’t worth the effort and will only enable unsupervised kids to spend more time on social media.
In a divided vote, the five-member Federal Communications Commission issued a declaratory ruling on Oct. 19 that it will allow E-Rate program funding to be used for Wi-Fi on school buses starting July 1, 2024. The program was created in 1996 to assist schools and libraries with obtaining affordable broadband at a time when only 14 percent of the nation’s K-12 classrooms had access to the internet.
Many students, especially in rural areas, still lack access outside of school.
In a statement following the vote, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel described a recent visit to a Vermont town that studied the significant amount of time that students spend commuting.
“This is an area of the country where students, like many in remote communities, spend a lot of hours on a school bus. Lots of them ride an hour to get to class in the morning and then ride an hour again back home at the end of each day. It is also an area where broadband connections are sparse,” she said. “The school in this little town in Vermont decided they were going to do something about it. They got support to outfit their school buses with Wi-Fi. For their rural students, they decided to turn ride time into connected time for homework. Call it Wi-Fi on wheels.”
During her tenure, Rosenworcel said she has prioritized closing “the homework gap,” referring to the struggle students who lack home internet access face in completing their work.
The FCC’s action became possible after the Senate in September confirmed Anna Gomez, which gave Democrats the 3-2 majority needed to approve such measures. The commission’s two Republicans voted against it.
The plan’s start coincides with the June 2024 expiration of the agency’s Emergency Connectivity Fund, which covered the costs of items like computers and Wi-Fi hotspots for off-campus use by students during the COVID-19 pandemic when many schools were operating virtually.