The Virginia
School Boards Association encourages you to contact your member of the United States
House of Representatives
and ask them to include H.R. 6563, The Emergency Educational Connections
Act of 2020, in the next COVID-19 relief package passed by Congress. This legislation, sponsored by
Representative Grace Meng, would appropriate $2 billion for an Emergency
Connectivity Fund, administered through the Federal Communications Commission’s
(FCC) E-Rate program, for schools and libraries to support distance and remote
learning for millions of students without home internet access for the duration
of the COVID-19 emergency.
The closure of
Virginia’s public schools by Governor Ralph S. Northam on March 13 have
exacerbated several inequalities that exist in our schools across the
Commonwealth including families with home internet access and those without.
Students living in homes without access to the internet face a growing
“homework gap” which keeps them from participating in academic activities as
learning has moved online. All students deserve access to learning, and we ask
Congress to support measures that will allow students the opportunity to
connect online with their teachers during this school closure.
The E-Rate
program is the best vehicle to disseminate funds quickly to public schools for
the purchase of Wi-Fi hotspots, modems, routers, and connected devices in an
equity-based manner. The E-Rate program’s history of handling these
distributions in the past make it the best option to quickly provide these
much-needed resources for our students and families facing the lack of internet
connectivity.
Click Here to Find Your Member of the U.S. House
of Representatives. Ask them to Support Including H.R. 6563 into any future
COVID-19 Relief Package!
