Dive Brief:
- The Consortium for School Networking’s (CoSN) Third Annual Infrastructure Survey, released yesterday and based on 530 responses from 48 states, notes that cost is the biggest barrier to connectivity in schools.
- Other significant challenges include “improving network speed and capacity and increasing competition for broadband services,” the survey states.
- Digital inequity at home is also a challenge, with around 40% of of students lacking access to broadband service at home.
Dive Insight:
Expenses are a primary challenge, and the survey reports that around 20% of school systems “are paying $50/Mbps or more per month for their internet connection.” It notes that 18% pay a similarly high amount for WAN connections. Other impediments include slow network speeds and capacities, a lack of competition in rural areas leading to a lack of contract bids, changes to the federal E-Rate program, and a lack of digital equity — referred to by FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel as the “homework gap” — that could otherwise allow students to learn at home.
The federal E-Rate program intends to help connectivity in schools, especially targeting poor rural schools. “A December vote increased its funding by $1.5 billion to $3.9 billion,” Education Dive previously reported. “In the time since, the agency has seen a 92% boost in applications submitted for the funding.”
Moreover, the February 2015 Net Neutrality vote will also boost the E-Rate program’s coffers, which are derived from universal telecommunications service fees, by broadening its revenue base from fees incurred solely by traditional telephone users.
The full CoSN survey can be downloaded or read here.
