TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - Kansas officials on Tuesday announced a two-year initiative to bring high-speed internet to school districts across the state, with the federal government picking most of the potential $100 million cost.
California-based nonprofit EducationSuperHighway is providing technical expertise to the state for the effort that’s expected to boost internet access in up to 20 percent of the state’s school districts.
The organization will coordinate with districts and internet service providers to develop plans for upgrades, The Topeka Capital-Journal (https://bit.ly/2gCDQV2 ) reported.
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback said the state might have to allocate up to $10 million for the program, with the money to come from the Universal Service Fund.
“Our goal is simple: bring digital learning capabilities to every Kansas classroom,” Brownback said. “Technically speaking, that means we need fiber-optic connections to every school. We need WiFi access in every school. We need connectivity that districts can afford.”
Kansas isn’t paying EducationSuperHighway for its services, Brownback said. Instead, the nonprofit draws upon a variety of corporate and philanthropic funders, including foundations connected to Facebook founder Mark Zukerberg and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
The program’s timeline seeks to have upgrades in place for districts by the summer of 2018.
The effort could help “level the playing field” between rural students and their suburban and urban counterparts, state Education Commissioner Randy Watson said. It also could help mitigate the effects of the state’s teacher shortage, he said.
“We have school districts already that are leveraging a teacher in a nearby town to teach calculus to two different school districts - the speed of the internet would be critical in doing that,” Watson said.
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