Nevada Legislature Considers Bill to Bridge the Digital Divide for Students

Like many states, Nevada could not verify that all their students had the devices and internet connectivity they needed to learn from home in the months after the pandemic closed schools.

But by December, State Superintendent Jhone Ebert successfully confirmed that every student participating in digital learning was able to connect.

How did Nevada make such great progress so quickly?

Step 1: In August 2020, the Governor’s COVID-19 Task Force established Connecting Kids, a public-private coalition that included stakeholders from businesses, school districts, state agencies, local municipalities, non-profits, education advocacy groups, food banks and other organizations. The group quickly created a platform for tracking student access to devices and connectivity and sent updates and calls for assistance to more than 500 statewide leaders.

Step 2: Next, Attorney General Aaron Ford negotiated with T-Mobile, via their Project 10Million program, to secure 18,000 hotspots to be distributed across the state according to need.

Step 3: As the coalition continued to identify needs and barriers, the Nevada Department of Education and the Governor’s Office of Science, Innovation and Technology coordinated resource mobilization, like strategically placing hotspots that rural students could use to download course material to work on from home.

Step 4: Meanwhile, Communities in Schools Nevada partnered with the Elaine P. Wynn Family Foundation to create a virtual Family Support Center, which about 18,000 families called to get reliable internet. Clark County School District – one of the largest in the nation – leveraged federal CARES Act funds to issue internet subsidies to high-need families via the Family Support Center. Additionally, Cox Communications authorized the Family Support Center to sign up low-income families for their Connect2Compete program, which provides free connectivity through June 31, 2021.

Step 5: Not all of the outreach was virtual. District and city staff knocked on doors to locate hard-to-reach students; community groups distributed more than 300,000 postcards with information about available supports.

By December, just five months later, Connecting Kids reported that all 485,705 Nevada students had been contacted, connected to the internet, and received a device.

The Nevada Assembly is now considering Senate Bill 66, which codifies the state’s efforts to bridge the digital divide by establishing an ongoing process for surveying and addressing student device and connectivity needs. ExcelinEd in Action urges Nevada lawmakers to support SB 66 to continue leading the nation toward digital equity for all students.

States looking to replicate Nevada’s success can consider the following steps:

• Regularly surveying local education agencies (LEAs) on their student and educator device and connectivity needs and reporting existing gaps and recommendations on how to close these gaps to the state education agencies. For more information, read ExcelinEd’s model policy.
• Building a digital learning data dashboard to connect the LEAs and State Education Agencies (SEAs) to ensure they can provide real-time data reporting on the LEA digital device and connectivity needs. Once the device data is being tracked, shared and monitored regularly, states may want to consider 1:1 device policies to ensure all students, including the most at-risk students, are being supported with an adequate, distance learning device for virtual learning. See more about this here.
• Establishing a cross-sector workgroup to identify, track and address gaps in connectivity and device access. This workgroup could be housed under the state’s broadband office, or other program supporting connectivity and digital inclusion activities of the state and localities.
• Participating in volume negotiations on behalf of school districts directly with internet service and telecom providers. This process may include a state Request for Information (RFI) process to gather information about availability and pricing of existing services offered to K-12 schools. The state may then build a master service agreement to negotiate pricing. For example, check out Ohio’s Broadband RFI proposals and Texas’s statewide procurement agreement.
• Leveraging federal stimulus dollars and broadband funding to support K-12 broadband infrastructure in school buildings and for student at-home connectivity needs.
• Establishing a broadband portal to allow residents to view the existing, affordable internet service offerings and options in their service area.
• Building a broadband connectivity program or other entity to allow the state to work directly with internet service providers (ISPs). Establishing a state program can ensure states are leveraging a range of new federal programs to provide subsidies to ISPs that offer affordable internet services to low-income households with students. The connectivity program allows states to use and later sustain FCC programs like the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program (EBBP) and the Emergency Connectivity Fund. For more information, read State Policy Recommendations: FCC Emergency Broadband Benefit Program and Steps States Can Take To Increase Participation in the EBBP.