This morning, Indiana State Governor Eric J. Holcomb and Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Jennifer McCormick announced their partnership with EducationSuperHighway. We look forward to working with Indiana’s leaders to ensure that all of the state’s public school students have equal access to digital learning opportunity through high-speed broadband.
So far, over 96 percent of Indiana’s students have at least 100 kbps of bandwidth, the minimum standard recommended by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for digital learning. Through our partnership with Governor Holcomb and Superintendent McCormick we will strive to ensure that the 38,500 students who are still below that connectivity level get the bandwidth they need to take advantage of technology in the classroom.
We will also work on getting fiber-optic connections to the 30 schools in Indiana that lack it and help the 88% of school districts that are not meeting national affordability benchmarks access more affordable broadband.
In addition, we will support Indiana in leveraging over $47 million that remains in E-rate Category 2 funding to get Wi-Fi into every classroom, as well as $2 million in school Internet connectivity funding that can help secure more federal state match dollars so that high-speed infrastructure – like fiber – is affordable for every district that needs it, regardless of their individual means.
To support these efforts, our organization will assist the Indiana Department of Education to create scalable, sustainable strategies to close the remaining connectivity gap. We are grateful for Indiana’s commitment to leveling the educational playing field for all of its students and very much look forward to collaborating with the DOE and K-12 school districts to make equal digital opportunity a reality for every student in the state.
