Nearly 1-in-10 households with school-aged children lack a consistent internet connection that can be used for educational purposes at a time when millions of kids have been forced out of classrooms by the coronavirus, according to federal estimates released on Thursday.
The share of households without surefire internet access is higher among those with lower incomes and people of color, the estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show.
Among 60 million households with children in public or private schools, about 5.4 million, or just over 9%, have internet available only “sometimes,” “rarely,” or “never” for educational purposes, the estimates suggest.
About 3.2 million of those households with limited internet service earned under $35,000 a year, meaning that among 16.6 million households captured by the data that earned less than that sum, about 20% are lacking dependable internet access.
The findings also highlight disparities by race. About 16% (1.4 million out of 9.2 million) of black households with school-aged kids are estimated to “sometimes,” “rarely,” or “never” have an internet connection for educational purposes. The same is true for just 7% (2.2 million of 32 million) of white households. The figure for Hispanic and Latino households was about 10% (1.3 million of 13 million).
In California on Wednesday, state superintendent of public instruction, Tony Thurmond, said during an online briefing that it would take at least $500 million to cover the cost of providing K-12 students in the state with the computers and internet connections that they need.
He called on private companies, foundations and individuals to step up to help bridge that gap.
Thurmond said that the state has already worked alongside companies like T-Mobile, Verizon and Amazon to dis ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
