Kentucky Educational Television (KET), a network of PBS member stations in Kentucky, has partnered with the Kentucky Department of Education to pilot a datacasting technology "to help school districts more efficiently and effectively support students who lack home internet access."

With the coronavirus pandemic extending the stay-at-home order, it has become increasingly difficult for teachers to get learning materials to their students without internet access, especially in times of bad weather. KET's statewide transmission network can deliver materials to those students without broadband internet.

The pilot program, funded by the Kentucky Department of Education, will begin in January. The program uses KET's existing broadcast network to securely bring learning materials to receiver boxes in homes via datacasting technology. KET previously used datacasting to send emergency, public safety and weather information to first responders. 

“KET was founded on the belief that every Kentuckian should have equal access to  educational resources,” said KET executive director and CEO Shae Hopkins. “This project has  the potential to deliver much-needed classroom materials to students without broadband  internet. And it does so in a more convenient and timely manner for students and teachers  by utilizing KET’s statewide infrastructure.”

“I am thankful that the Kentucky Department of Education and KET are working together to find  another way to reach students who have been struggling during this period of distance  learning,” said Jason E. Glass, commissioner of education and chief learner. “While Kentucky  has been a pioneer and national leader in most aspects of K-12 education technology for  students, teachers and leaders for the past 25 years, there is a small percentage of students  that still have no internet accessibility. Through diligent work with our districts and our partners, we are closing the digital divide for our students to ensure that learning can  happen anytime, anywhere. This initiative brings us significantly closer to reaching that  goal.”

A bipartisan COVID-19 aid Senate bill would help close the digital homework gap by allocating billions of dollars in new E-rate schools and libraries broadband subsidies that could be used to pay for home broadband devices and service for students.

The compromise legislation incorporates the Emergency Educational Connections Act of 2020, which would allocate $3 billion for distance learning, including for "certain elementary schools, secondary schools, or libraries to purchase telecommunications equipment or services (e.g., Wi-Fi hotspots, modems, and routers) for use by students, staff, or patrons at locations that include locations other than the schools or libraries."

Also Read: Dems Push Billions for Distance Learning

The FCC presides over an E-rate educational broadband subsidy fund for school and library connectivity, but FCC chairman Ajit Pai has said that must be used for connections in physical schools and libraries, per statute, and not for home access and devices for students having to get their schooling at home. Democrats argue that the FCC can and should extend the definition of school to remote learning.

Senators Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), and Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) applauded the inclusion of their E-rate bill in the larger package.

Also Read: Educators Say Distance Learning Dollars, Equity, Are Keys to Reopening Schools

“We are pleased to see our legislation that funds K-12 distance learning included in this bipartisan coronavirus relief package,” they said in a joint statement. “We cannot afford to wait another day to connect online our nation’s most vulnerable children to their educators and classmates and to ensure the ‘homework gap’ does not grow into a damaging learning gap as the pandemic continues. This $3 billion in E-rate funding is a strong down payment on ensuring all kids can continue to learn and develop throughout this health crisis.”

COVID-19 has become an issue in the debate between internet service providers and broadband deployment critics over how the Federal Communications Commission should view the digital divide. 

The FCC is charged annually with assessing whether advanced telecommunications is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion. Reports issued by Democrat-controlled FCCs have generally concluded it is not, while Republican commissions have tended to say it is. 

The difference is in statutory interpretation, but also in the conflicting views of the government’s role in making that happen.

The FCC, under Republican chairman Ajit Pai, who also backed a glass-mostly-full view when in the minority, sees the congressional mandate as being met by steady progress. For the agency, year-over-year progress is reasonable and timely.

Partisan Views Diverge

But Democrats look at the statute and see the “all Americans” part as meaning not until everybody has broadband, ideally defined both in terms of speed and price, and say it is not reasonable and timely. As for the demonstrable progress the Republicans see, Democrats point out that the FCC’s deployment data is bad. It’s a problem Congress is trying to fix via legislation and the FCC has conceded exists in launching a separate effort to get better data.

Enter COVID-19, which has put a spotlight on where broadband isn’t, given the need
for telemedicine, remote work and education, a near-term necessity that will likely move the world, long-term, into an even more virtual one.

The FCC has been seeking comment on how it should approach the 2021 report, including what impact the pandemic has and will have on broadband availability. In their initial comments, Common Cause, Next Century Cities and Public Knowledge invoked COVID-19 almost four dozen times to argue that, because of it, the FCC should, among many other things, up its baseline high-speed definition — to 100 Megabits per second both upstream and downstream versus the FCC’s current definition of 25 Mbps up and 3 Mbps down.

They also contend the FCC should boost its Lifeline broadband subsidy, recognize that mobile is not a substitute for fixed broadband, and recognize that the price of broadband, particularly in a pandemic that has left millions jobless, must be factored in.  

“As the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic revealed, the digital divide continues to have a stranglehold on tribal lands, people of color, seniors, people with disabilities, low-income populations and rural parts of the country,” the advocacy groups told the FCC. “The commission must meet the enormity of this moment and scrutinize whether every American has an equal opportunity to participate in a digital society.”

That includes participating in the video streaming revolution that has also been fueled by a stay-at-home population. According to the National Telecommunications & Information Administration, the White House’s chief communications policy adviser, the share of Americans who view online video grew from 45% of the population to 70% from 2013 to 2017. “Since then, many popular new streaming services have launched, including Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus and HBO Max, which are likely to increase the proportion of internet users watching online videos,” they said. 

And as to whether broadband deployment is reasonable and timely? “Even though Americans nationwide need affordable and reliable broadband connections to comply with remote learning, work-from-home orders and telemedicine programs, more reliable and affordable high-speed connections are still a distant reality for millions,” they argued.

ISPs: We’ve Delivered

ISPs in their comments also talked about the pandemic, but argue the crisis has shown how deregulatory policies have spurred the deployment and investment that have allowed the networks to handle the new demands on their networks. ACA Connects, which represents smaller and midsized independent broadband ISPs, told the FCC that the pandemic put networks to the test, “and they delivered.” It argued that one of the reasons the networks could handle the increased traffic and shifting stay-at-home usage patterns was because of the FCC’s light-touch regulatory regime.

USTelecom agreed, telling the FCC “it is precisely because of unanticipated circumstances such as these that the commission going forward needs to stay on track and adopt deregulatory policies that remove barriers to deployment.”

NCTA-The Internet & Television Association was also part of that chorus, telling the FCC that broadband deployment has been reasonable and timely “notwithstanding the COVID-19 crisis.” NCTA, which represents the larger MSOs, buttresses its argument that “more consumers are receiving faster broadband from providers using a variety of technologies,” which it said  meets the “reasonable and timely standard,” by also pointing to network resiliency during the pandemic. It pointed to its COVID-19 network dashboard, which it said shows cable customers “have not experienced any material degradation of service during the now more than six months of the COVID-19 crisis.” 

It said those customers are using services “more than sufficient to work and learn from home, including multiple simultaneous connections to video conferencing applications,” and at the current 25/3 Mbps high-speed definition that, in NCTA’s view, should remain the standard.

Election Will Tell

How those arguments affect the final report, which won’t be issued until next year, will depend on whether an administration under President Donald Trump or Democratic nominee Joe Biden administration does the reporting.

A Section 706 report under chairman Pai, or a new Republican chairman, will almost certainly continue to find deployment reasonable and timely. A Biden-appointed chairman is as likely to side with the glass-half-empty arguments, a conclusion that could lead to broadband price regulation.

The Democratic FCC commissioners both argue that deployment is not reasonable and timely and the agency must do more to make it so.

Saying the COVID-19 pandemic can't be allowed to create an "irreversible" learning gap for students without access to the internet, Cox is teaming up with Common Sense Media to try and do something about it.

Cox President Pat Esser; Michael Powell, president of NCTA-the Internet & Television Association; Common Sense Media CEO Jim Steyer; and others unveiled the initiative at a virtual press conference Tuesday (Sept. 29).

Related: Dems Push $4 Billion for Distance Learning

Esser and Powell unveiled a big bucks initiative during the virtual press conference with Cox pledging $60 million over the next year to help close the digital learning divide.

"Our commitment remains strong, but we cannot do this alone. We need to keep partnering with cities, school districts, counties and community-based organizations to get families connected," said Esser.

Cox will also extend its offer to new Connect2Compete customers. If they sign up by year's end, they will get two months free, followed by $9.95 per month internet. Cox's outdoor WiFi hotspots will also remain open to all comers. Both of those were part of its commitment to keep Americans connected during the pandemic.

The company has also launched Cox CARES Act Solutions for Education to help states and localities spend the billions of dollars in CARES Act COVID-19 aid that can be used for distance learning.

Elsewhere on the cable broadband front, Charter has re-instituted its pandemic-prompted 60-day free internet/WiFi offer for homes with K-12 and college kids, as well as for teachers.

As schools attempt to reopen virtually, or with a mix of in-person and virtual instruction, making sure as many students--and teachers--have access to broadband as possible is more important than ever. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has freed up more funding as well as pushing Congress to allocate more funds for distance learning and states to use some of the billions already available for distance learning, while Hill Democrats have been pushing Pai to interpret the FCC's E-rate broadband subsidy restriction on funding to classroom broadband and equipment to include remote learning and equipment for the "home" classroom, something Pai has so far said the statute does not allow.

Democratic Senators Ed Markey (Mass.) and Chris Van Hollen (Md.) are calling for $4 billion in funding in the next COVID-19 relief package for home ed tech.

They said the money should be used to insure that K-12 students have home internet connectivity and devices.

The FCC presides over an E-rate educational broadband subsidy fund for school and library connectivity, but FCC chairman Ajit Pai has said that must be used for connections in physical schools and libraries, per statue, and not for home access and devices for students having to get their schooling at home. Democrats argue that the FCC can and should extend the definition of school to remote learning.

Related: Educators Say Distance Learning Dollars, Equity, Are Keys to Reopening Schools

Sens. Markey and Van Hollen, joined by Senator Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), and Senators Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), introduced a standalone bill to allocate that $4 billion, Emergency Educational Connections Act, back in May.

The senators scheduled a virtual hearing at about the same time House Democrats were pressing Pai over his reading of the statute to disallow that home broadband and device funding through E-rate.

Pai back in June pointed out that while the FCC's hands were tied when it comes to applying E-rate schools and libraries funding to remote learning during the pandemic, there are billions of dollars that could already be applied to that purpose that Congress has already allocated and the FCC is working on getting educators to spend on education tech.

He pointed out on a webinar that the CARES Act COVID-19 aid bill allocated $16 billion for schools and that the FCC was working with the Department of Education to let schools know that one of the things that money could be used for is educational tech. 

Cable operator and telecom ISPs are offering school districts a discount on home broadband to help bridge the educational digital divide.

NCTA-The Internet & Television Association (as well as USTelecom) are teaming up with nonprofit EducationSuperHighway on the K-12 Bridge to Broadband, which will help public school districts and states identify the low-income students who need help to join the remote hybrid learning educational system prompted by the pandemic.

Cable ops who have committed to the program include Comcast, Cox, Charter, Mediacom and GCI.

“America’s broadband networks are continuing to play a critical role in helping the nation adapt to changes in daily life required by the COVID pandemic,” said NCTA president Michael Powell. “As the school year begins, these changes are front and center in many parts of the country, with family rooms temporarily replacing classrooms and more schools using online instruction to continue their educational mission. In rising to these challenges, the cable industry is continuing to provide robust and reliable service and is redoubling our efforts to work collaboratively with schools, communities and other partners to get families connected through innovative new service models that will foster and sustain the educational progress of our children.”

The basic approach of the K-12 Bridge to Broadband is that NCTA members will offer a "sponsored service" through which school systems can buy broadband for low-income students at a discount. ISPs will also work with school districts to identify the eligible students who don't have broadband.

ISPs will agree not to use any information shared with them by the school for target marketing to participating families or for other services unrelated to the sponsored service.

The new initiative got a shout-out from FCC chairman Ajit Pai, who urged school systems to use some of the billions in existing connectivity funding to help with the remote learning effort.

“I thank NCTA and the EducationSuperHighway for launching this initiative to make it easier for students in low-income families to connect to the internet,” said Pai. “With the start of the school year and the continued reliance upon remote learning in many parts of the country, it is essential that students have the connectivity they need to continue their education through this and similar initiatives. I therefore reiterate my call for states and school districts to take advantage of the $16 billion in CARES Act funding that can be used to connect our nation’s students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The FCC has been working with the U.S. Department of Education to raise awareness of this CARES Act funding for remote learning, and this money is already having a positive impact. For example, in the District of Columbia, the CARES Act is making it possible for the D.C. government to cover monthly Internet bills for tens of thousands of children in low-income families who attend local public and charter schools. Similar initiatives using CARES Act funds have been launched in other states, including Alabama and Connecticut, to ensure low-income students are able to engage in remote learning during the ongoing pandemic.”

"As we look to the future of e-learning, school systems will continue to leverage and experiment with these platforms in creative ways. Today, most school districts and universities are discovering new ways to integrate e-learning into their lesson plans." -Nigel Burmeister, VP of Product, Limelight Networks

The pandemic has turned our world upside down, forcing us to find new ways to connect and conduct daily activities. Streaming video has emerged as much more than an entertainment medium - now a means of uniting the world, providing the tools needed to learn, work and access information. This has sent streaming skyrocketing with Nielsen data revealing viewership has increased 85% during COVID-19.

Going forward, how will streaming continue to connect our world? When we look at the state of education, business and healthcare systems, it's impossible to operate without it. Online video is powering new ways to function in this new normal, changing how we learn, work and access information.

Powering New Education Opportunities

Every day more school districts and universities announce they are remote for the fall semester and some go so far as the next academic year. This has forced many education systems to turn to e-learning, allowing teachers to continue classes from a safe distance. Before COVID-19, schools primarily used e-learning platforms as a supplement to their normal curriculum. Some teachers would prepare an in-class lesson and send students home to expand learning through online video courses or homework. At the university level, institutions have opened up the option of online-only classes for years. However, the pandemic has pushed e-learning into the forefront, becoming the sole educational resource for students.

As we look to the future of e-learning, school systems will continue to leverage and experiment with these platforms in creative ways. Today, most school districts and universities are discovering new ways to integrate e-learning into their lesson plans. The opportunities are endless: we will see more schools transition to using these services during severe weather, while universities may add new online learning options to expand accessibility for students who cannot afford to move to their city. Regardless, we can expect to see online video play a major role in the future of our education system even when in-person interaction increases.

Driving Business Collaboration

In addition to keeping kids home from school, the pandemic has pushed corporate America to adjust to working from home. For many Americans this was the first time they worked from home - according to the How Video is Changing the World report, a third of people said their employer offered the ability to work from home for the first time during the pandemic.

Online video services are helping fill a void when it comes to collaboration and communication. Workplaces are leveraging video-driven collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams and Zoom to drive a sense of employee interactivity and connection, virtually. In fact, video conferencing platform Zoom reportedly reached 200 million users per day in March.

These video applications are removing barriers by allowing workers to connect face-to-face, share ideas and strategize projects. But beyond that video sessions are going above just collaboration but helping to instill a sense of normalcy - making people feel like they’re in a conference room rattling off ideas rather than in the confinements of their homes.

Aside from strictly team or department engagement, live streaming is enabling organizations to open the floor up to their workforce and discuss business or market changes driven by COVID-19. By ditching email updates and holding staff meetings, training sessions and webinars online, companies can streamline communication while keeping their workforce educated and supported. It goes without saying that communication is essential right now and the ability to continue company-wide meetings or even just virtual lunches and coffee chats with coworkers is empowering people to persevere through it all.

Empowering Safer Healthcare Communications

The coronavirus outbreak has also brought the future of telehealth into the spotlight. In fact, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have temporarily allowed changes in government-provided healthcare to include telehealth services. These virtual healthcare platforms are feeling the demand with one platform citing usage surging by 650 percent or more in regions most impacted by COVID-19.

With these live online video services, doctors are “seeing” patients virtually while keeping both parties as safe as possible. In this post-COVID world, it’s expected that people will continue to take advantage of telehealth services, especially as residual concerns with entering doctor’s offices (and all other public spaces for that matter) resume.

Past one-to-one appointments, online video has also become a critical means to receiving news on the healthcare industry, progress of COVID-19 and, most importantly, strides to stop the spread. For the healthcare industry and the public, it’s imperative to stay up to date with the latest news and regulations. Health organizations and the government are working together to keep the public as informed as possible and online video is allowing consumers to have an archive of easily accessible information. While press conferences are widely available via live-stream on various sites, such as the White House’s YouTube channel, to ensure everyone has access to this critical information, no paywall involved. The most beneficial aspect of these additional viewing options is they’re proving to be a reliable means of reaching large sections of the population and improving our access to information.

Online Video is the Future - But Only If Internet Infrastructure Is Ready to Support it

In these difficult times, online video allows us to create a new normal by staying engaged and connected with schools, workplaces, healthcare professionals, governments and communities. With this, it’s also brought a heightened awareness to the digital divide. For rural communities without a strong internet connection, online learning or working from home has not been easy. Accessing the internet and downloading online video isn’t something many households even think twice about, but the infrastructure in underdeveloped communities is falling behind because they lack strong enough internet connection to stream this content. Now more than ever, it’s critical that internet service providers and tech vendors come together to build better internet infrastructure that makes online video services accessible to everyone, everywhere, any time.

We’ll continue to depend on online video as we settle into this new normal. From an entertainment perspective, live sports are back; however, it’ll take some time before we see people crowding tailgates and stadiums again. Online video technology can step in here to bridge this gap of experience by providing immersive, interactive streams that make fans feel like they’re safely part of the action.

Beyond entertainment, streaming will continue to be a key factor in keeping us all grounded. People need human interaction and services like Zoom or FaceTime give us this ability while keeping us safe. All these factors highlight that video is becoming our hub of information, connection and normalcy, making it crucial we work toward minimizing the digital divide.

Limelight Networks is a leading provider of digital content delivery, video, cloud security, and edge computing services.

Educators told the Senate Wednesday (June 10) that access to technology is key to reopening schools in the new normal of COVID-19 and they could use some help in the form of government dollars. 

They made that point at a hearing in the Senate Health Education Labor and Pension (HELP) Committee hearing, COVID-19: Going Back to School Safely." Going back to school also means having the connectivity and equipment for not going back to school if the pandemic flares up, and for a hybrid mix of remote and in-person learning even if it is just navigating the new normal until there is a vaccine and treatment and more is known about the virus' transmission. 

John King, former Education Secretary under President Barack Obama, said that before COVID-19, 79% of households had broadband versus only 66% of black households and 61% of Hispanic households. He said that lack of equitable access is not only a distance learning issue and an obstacle to hybrid remote/in person education, but "an emergency preparedness issue in the event of further widespread closures." 

Related: Senate Dems introduce $4 Billion E-Rate Bill 

He said to make sure home broadband access for students is even possible, the Congress needs to add at least $4 billion to the FCC's E-rate subsidy program--there is already legislation introduced to that effect--for WiFi hot spots and devices. He told the committee that Congress "should also encourage districts to implement multilingual digital learning platforms to be fully inclusive, and encourage private companies to enable home broadband access for the students in the communities they serve during the pandemic at no cost." He also said there needed to be professional development for educators so they can "teach, assess, and connect with their students remotely."

After surveying parents, schools and communities, Matthew Blomsted, the Nebraska Department of Education commissioner of education, said that number one on the list of five back-to-school priorities was to "enhance technology infrastructure (broadband, devices, platforms, data privacy) for students and families."  

He told the committee he was concerned that the state lacks "the technology infrastructure to provide remote learning for sustained periods of time as well as make the investments in the appropriate resources and supports. He added that without more federal money for K-12 education in the next COVID-19 aid bill, "it may be difficult for states that are already strapped for funding in several sectors to meet the critical needs to keep schools open." 

If the state is to keep its promise of a high quality education to its million students, said Dr. Penny Schwinn, commissioner of education for the Tennessee Department of Education, "we must address the digital divide for teachers and students."

She said that means access to devices as well as broadband and professional development. She said the state's governor has talked about not having broadband on his farm. "That reality is all too true for students and their teachers," she said, particularly of the state;s rural and most vulnerable populations from a health perspective.   

"This is no longer a 'nice to have,'" she said, "for many it is a necessity for a free and appropriate public education." 

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member of the subcommittee, pointed to the disparity in distance learning funding and efficacy between poorer and minority communities and asked King what lessons about distance learning have been learned in the past few months and how states should plan for distance learning to come.  

King said that access to devices remain a challenge, including where there might be a device in the home, but a number of kids. "Or parents may need the device, too," Murray added. 

He said bandwidth also remains a challenge, not only in rural communities but urban ones. He said there were also cases where cable companies won't allow access to services with an unpaid balance (though most ISPs have pledged not to pull the plug for nonpayment during the pandemic). 

He said tackling the digital divide is essential, but so is tackling professional development over the summer, saying at most schools there will be some need for hybrid learning.  

It will come as no surprise to most of the shelter-at-home population that a vast majority of people in a new Pew survey (87%) said the Internet has been important (34%) or essential (53%) to them personally during the pandemic.

But perhaps somewhat surprisingly, a clear majority (62%) say they don't think that it is the federal government's responsibility to make sure that all Americans have a high-speed internet connection at home during the COVID-19 outbreak, even though it may hinder how they perform everyday tasks in the "new normal." 

Related: The Latest on COVID-19's Impact on Industry 

There was a partisan divide over the digital divide, but still only about half of Democrats (52%) thought it was the government's job to insure a high-speed connection, and even fewer (45%) it was government's job to insure cellphone service. For Republicans, those were 22% and 21%, respectively.  

Less than a third of the respondents (28%) said they worry about paying for their high-speed connection, and about a third of those with smartphones worry about paying their cellphone bills, though that worry over indexes for Hispanic and Black respondents and those with lower incomes. For example, more than half (54%) of Hispanic respondents said they worry about being able to pay.  

Related: Groups Petition Congress for Broadband Billions 

Hundreds of members of Congress and hundreds of civil society groups have been pressing Congress for billions of dollars in funding to close the digital divide and "homework gap" ASAP and make sure that lower income Americans and students.  

For one thing, it is problematic for schools to move online if not all students have equal access to the internet or have to un-shelter to find a hotspot. Roughly one fifth (22%) of parents with children having to "home school" as it were said it was very or somewhat likely their kids will not be able to finish schoolwork at home because they don't have a "reliable" internet connection.  

About the same one in five parents (21%) said it will be hard for their kids to study remotely because they don't have access to a home computer, and even more (37%) said that it was the school's responsibility to provide all students with a laptop or tablet if they were expected to attend school together, apart.  

The study was conducted April 7-12 among 4,917 U.S. adults. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.

The FCC said it will team up with the Department of Education to urge states and localities to use $16 billion of the CARES Act's $2 trillion COVID-19 Aid funding for distance learning. The FCC said that, for its part, that will include publicizing ISPs that could "move quickly" to support connectivity and distance learning. 

That $16 billion is part of the Education Stabilization Fund portion of the legislation. Congress clearly had remote education in mind, but the FCC and DOE want to make sure states got that message. 

The FCC did not get any distance learning funding in the CARES Act, though it did get money for a telehealth program. 

“Schools have had to change the way they teach and parents and students are trying to adapt to learning from home," said FCC chairman Ajit Pai. "Fortunately, Congress has provided $16 billion in funding through the CARES Act to help schools equip their students with the broadband connectivity, laptops, and tablets they need to learn at home. It’s a massive amount of funding that can be used for remote learning, and it can be disbursed and put to use immediately. I strongly urge the nation’s governors, state education agencies, and local school districts to take this opportunity to help keep America’s students connected during this pandemic." 

Related: COVID-19 Hits TV Industry

The states are not required to use the money for remote learning, but the FCC suggests Congress clearly had that in mind.  

The FCC points out that $13 billion in state grants could go to remote learning, including “[p]urchasing educational technology (including hardware, software, and connectivity).” Then there is $3 billion in the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund, which can be used at the governor's discretion. 

The commission also points to the applications for those funds, which asks governors to explain how they intend “to establish, develop, improve, or expand the availability, accessibility, capacity, and use of remote learning techniques and technologies.”  

"This funding really empowers [states and localities] to do the right thing for students and teachers to ensure they have the tools they need for learning to continue," said Education Secretary Betsy DeVoss. "In many cases, that means access to laptops, tablets and connectivity to the internet." 

Fox News Channel continues to pump out the virtual town halls in the time of COVID-19. 

The latest is Outnumbered Overtime: America Learns Together featuring a remote audience of parents and educators talking about the challenge of digital education during the pandemic. FNC has lined up a number of former top Department of Education officials. 

Related: Fox News, Facebook Team for Virtual Town Hall

The April 21 (1 p.m. ET) town hall will be moderated by anchor Harris Faulkner and include former Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Assistant Secretary Deb Delisle (both during the Obama Administration), as well as Bill Bennett, former Education Secretary under President Ronald Reagan, among others. 

The lesson plan, as it were, for the educational session incluces tips for best practices, the future of virtual class dynamics, and struggles faced with distance learning. 

For example, the school system in the Washington suburbs of Fairfax County, Va., are rated among the best, but they had to reboot the start of online classes after inappropriate content posted by students became an issue.

In its latest investment in mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, AT&T said it will give $1.2 million from its Distance Learning and Family Connections fund to seven alumni of its Aspire Accelerator program. 

That program funds and mentors education-focused startup companies. 

Related: All the Latest News on OVID-19 Impact on the industry

"As millions of students shift to distance learning because of COVID-19, small businesses focused on education are critical to ensuring that transition is successful," said AT&T. 

The companies getting the funds are Boddle, CareerVillage, CommonLit, LiftEd, ListenWise, LitLab and TalkingPoints, all of which are run by either women or minorities and focused on reaching underserved communities. 

“Our country is grappling with an unprecedented challenge,” said AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson. “Now more than ever before, connecting people with the resources they need to maintain a sense of normalcy is paramount.” 

New America's Open Technology Institute is calling on the FCC to free up big bucks for distance learning. 

In an emergency filing, it told the FCC it had $2.2 billion it could use from the E-rate schools and libraries Universal Service Fund subsidy and clearly had the authority since it just launched a $100 million telehealth pilot program using USF funds. 

Related: FCC Grants Various E-Rate Extensions 

It wants the FCC to immediately extend broadband access to millions of K-12 students currently lacking it.  

It also called on the FCC to extend E-rate funds, usually reserved for schools and libraries broadband nets, to off-site connectivity. 

The FCC has already waived restrictions on closed schools and libraries getting funds so they can continue to be hotspots for students in the vicinity. 

It also advocated for more distance learning dollars in the last stimulus bill and will do so in the next, FCC officials have said.

But OTI said the FCC can do more now with the money it has. 

“The FCC has the legal authority to immediately designate $2.2 billion in available E-Rate funding to help local schools mitigate this crisis," said Michael Calabrese, director of OTI's Wireless Future Project, who said the homework gap had become a chasm in the time of coronavirus.  

OTI added a plug for using more Lifeline subsidy funds funds to connect low-income residents required to stay at home during the pandemic.

Democratic senators are on the same page as FCC chair Ajit Pai when it comes to wanting more funding for distance learning. 

In a letter to House and Senate leadership Thursday, the majority of Senate Democrats called for "robust" funding of K-12 online education. 

By "robust," they mean at least $2 billion in E-Rate funding in the next COVID-19 aid bill. E-Rate is the FCC subsidy for high-speed broadband to schools and libraries. 

The senators had wanted E-rate funding in the $2 trillion CARES Act aid package, but that bill's broadband funding was only $300 million, targeted at telehealth. 

“Children without connectivity are at risk of not only being unable to complete their homework during this pandemic, but being unable to continue their overall education,” the lawmakers wrote. “Congress must address this issue by providing financial support specifically dedicated to expanding home internet access in the next emergency relief package so that no child falls behind in their education.” 

Related: FCC Will Seek Distance Learning Dollars from Hill 

The FCC under Pai also pushed for distance learning funding in the CARES Act, and signaled it would do so again in any subsequent aid bill, FCC officials said this week, though they did not say how much money they thought was needed. 

The FCC has already taken several steps to help distance learners, Pai has pointed out, including lifting gift rules in the E-rate program to allow donations of equipment and services, and allowing closed schools and libraries to keep getting funding so they can serve as community WiFi hot spots. On Wednesday (April 1), it also extended filing and implementation requirements for the program. 

Leading the letter were Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). Other signatories were Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Angus King (I-Maine), Bob Casey, Jr. (D-Penn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Tom Udall (D-Utah), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). 

The FCC has extended filing and implementation deadline for its E-rate broadband subsidies to schools and libraries impacted by the COVID-19 virus.

"These extensions, granted by the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau, will alleviate administrative and compliance burdens on schools and libraries and enable them to focus on transitioning to remote learning during the pandemic," the FCC said.

It is just the latest in a host of actions the FCC has taken to remove logistical impediments to dealing with the pandemic.

The FCC order issued Wednesday (April 1), waives "the service implementation deadline for special construction for all funding year 2019 applicants and extends this deadline by one year, from June 30, 2020 to June 30, 2021."

Without that waiver, applicable E-Rate applicants would have to have lit up their networks by June 30. But with most schools and libraries closed, service providers "may not be allowed on the premises and may experience significant challenges in meeting this construction deadline."

"In light of extended school and library closures, we’re granting an across-the-board, one-year extension of the E-Rate special construction deadline for funding year 2019,” said FCC chair Ajit Pai."

The chairman has signaled the FCC will ask Congress for money for a remote distance learning project in the next COVID-19 stimulus bill. "I look forward to continue working with Congress to fund a Remote Learning Initiative so that every child can continue being educated during the pandemic," he said.

The FCC also extended its service delivery deadline for non-recurring services for funding year 2019 by one year, from Sept. 30, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021 and granted schools and libraries "an automatic 60-day extension to file requests for review or waiver of decisions by the E-Rate program administrator, the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC)," as well as an "automatic 120-day extension of the invoice filing deadline. It will also give participants another 30-day extension to respond to "certain information requests from USAC."

The FCC has already made sure that close schools and libraries can still qualify for E-rate funding. 

The FCC was looking for money from Congress for remote education in the COVID-19 aid bill that passed last weekend, but didn't get it. An FCC official signaled on background Monday (March 30) that it is not giving up. 

Senate Democrats had also wanted at least $2 billion for e-rate in the aid bill.

The FCC official said to look for the commission to renew the funding pitch for the next round of COVID-19 aid that is almost surely coming. He also cited the efforts ISPs are taking on their own dime, including offering free service to low-income residents with school age children currently lacking home broadband.

The FCC has already taken some steps to try and help broadband providers boost their remote education efforts through the FCC's schools and libraries e-rate broadband subsidy. That includes allowing schools and libraries that are closed to still get the funding--so they can open up their WiFi networks to the public during the coronavirus pandemic without losing e-rate funding.  

The FCC has also temporarily waived rules that prohibited e-rate-eligible entities from accepting or seeking anything of value from a provider participating in the program. With those rules waived, carriers can donate free upgraded gear or WiFi hotspots.