Posted on October 26, 2017
Author Jacque Ryan, WKVI
Governor Eric Holcomb and Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Jennifer McCormick have announced a partnership that aims to give all Hoosier students access to the tools and resources needed for digital learning with high-speed internet in every classroom.
The state is teaming up with Education Super Highway (ESH), the nation’s leading non-profit focused on upgrading internet access in every public school classroom in America, at no cost to tax payers. ESH will work with the Indiana Department of Education and local school districts to determine need, whether that’s fiber infrastructure, greater and more affordable bandwidth or Wi-Fi upgrades.
Nearly 38,500 Hoosier students currently don’t have the needed bandwidth required to take advantage of technology in the classroom. There are 30 Indiana schools that still need high-speed fiber connections, 88 percent of school districts are not meeting national benchmarks for affordable broadband and there is more than $47 million remaining in federal E-rate funding to improve Wi-Fi in Indiana Schools.
This partnership will help the state best utilize the $2 million allocated in the state budget to support school internet connectivity and leverage these funs to secure more FCC E-rate match dollars to connect schools to fiber at low or no cost to schools.
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