The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on June 30 announced it is committing nearly $159 million in two new funding rounds through the Emergency Connectivity Program, "helping to close the Homework Gap," according to an agency statement.
The FCC said the new funding supports applications from all three of the program’s application windows, supporting over 300,000 students across the country, including those in in Alabama, Guam, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Texas, and West Virginia.
Nearly $2 million from the first and second application windows will provide support in the upcoming school year for approximately 15 schools and 4 libraries.
For the third application window, the Commission is committing nearly $157 million that will support over 350 schools, 50 libraries, and 4 consortia.
Total funding committed to date is nearly $5.3 billion.
The FCC noted the new funding can be used to support off-campus learning, such as nightly homework, to ensurestudents across the country have the necessary support to keep up with their education.
To date, according to a press release, the program has helped over 12.7 million students, supporting approximately 10,000 schools, 900 libraries, and 100 consortia, and providing over 11 million connected devices and 5 million broadband connections.
Of the nearly $5.3 billion funding commitments approved to date, $4.1 billion is supporting applications from Window 1; $819 million from Window 2; and $401 million from Window 3.
“Even as more and more students return to classrooms in person, there is a continued need to support kids who don’t have access to the internet at home,” commented FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. “Just this week, I was visiting Congresswoman Grace Meng’s district in Queens where I heard directly from local students who shared that some of their classmates found themselves typing essays on their phones because they lacked the internet and devices to complete their schoolwork. That’s unacceptable, and we can do better. I am grateful that Congress has provided this funding to help close this Homework Gap, so students all over the country can connect with their teachers and online assignments when they are away from school.”