FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is proposing to allow federal funds to be used to provide Wi-Fi on school buses going forward.

Government money can currently be used for that purpose, but only under the Emergency Connectivity Fund, a pandemic-related temporary program. (The FCC has already spent $35 million on Wi-Fi service for buses).

Currently, the FCC's E-rate program subsidizes school and library connectivity, but not buses, despite calls from some E-rate stakeholders that such a move would help close the "homework gap."

Rosenworcel unveiled the plan at a meeting of the National Coalition for Technology in Education & Training. The FCC would simply issue a declaratory ruling -- which does not require notice and comment -- "clarifying that use of Wi-Fi, or similar access point technologies, on school buses serves an educational purpose," so that E-rate funding could be used.

"This commonsense change could help kids who have no broadband at home," she said.

Rosenworcel was among those in a Rose Garden crowd Monday (May 9) as President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris announced that the Administration had gotten commitments from almost two dozen private sector ISPs to lower service costs for high speed broadband (at least 100 mbps). Biden and Harris also announced the launch of a GetInternet.gov website on how to sign up for the American Connectivity Program (ACP).

The draft ruling would make buses eligible in the upcoming funding E-rate year, according to the FCC. \

Rosenworcel drew some praise from groups ready to get on the bus, as it were.

Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) were quick to throw their support behind the proposal. Not a surprise since they have introduced legislation to allow Wi-Fi on school buses.

"I am delighted that Chairwoman Rosenworcel and the FCC are working to expand access to Wi-Fi on school buses," said Welch. 

"I’m glad Chairwoman Rosenworcel continues to take decisive action to expand internet connection and I look forward to continuing our partnership to ensure New Mexico’s communities are 100% connected," said Luján.

"Benton applauds Chairwoman Rosenworcel and this critical effort to support a continuum of connectivity for America's schoolchildren," said Benton Institute for Broadband & Society Executive Editor Kevin Taglang. "As far back as 2016, approximately 3% of the schools had begun to offer Wi-Fi on school buses, and nearly 4 percent were planning to do so in the near future. The reasoning is clear: school buses can be an extension of the school and facilitate online study. The FCC should seize this opportunity to turn school buses into rolling study halls."■

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) has introduced the Homework Gap Trust Fund Act, which would tap into C-Band auction money. 

The goal of the bill is to ensure that all children have access to the home. 

In introducing the legislation, Van Hollen pointed to a Senate Joint Economic Committee finding that as many as 12 million students don't have internet access at home while 70% of teachers assign homework that requires access. 

Related: Teachers Say Homework Gap Remains 

That gap has prompted anecdotal stories about parents driving their kids to McDonald's or Starbucks, or kids sitting in school parking lots or on the library steps to do their homework.  

The bill would direct revenue from the C-Band midband auction--scheduled to begin next February--to a fund to pay for "priorities that will help close the digital divide." 

Some legislators on both sides of the aisle have been keen to direct C-Band auction funds--the FCC is freeing up more spectrum for 5G--to closing that divide, rather than compensating incumbent foreign-owned satellite operators. 

“Every child deserves the opportunity to succeed. But without internet access at home, many students face significant barriers in completing their schoolwork," Van Hollen said in introducing the legislation. 

Democratic FCC commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, who has made closing that homework gap a signature issue, praised the bill. "We need to fix this problem and make sure that when it comes to nightly schoolwork, no child is left offline," she said. "So kudos to Senator Van Hollen for this bill, which would capitalize on funds raised by an upcoming FCC spectrum auction to provide solutions to connect kids everywhere to digital opportunity." 

Washington, D.C. -- Assuring students access to broadband service outside school and their homes is essential, and added funding for high-speed access in libraries is a significant way to accomplish that goal, FCC commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said in her speech on "The Broadband Imperative and the Homework Gap" on Thursday.  

Addressing the State Education Technology Directors Association, she complimented the group for its  second "Broadband Imperative Report," just released, which focuses on "digital equity." 

"This is an issue that demands attention -- I believe your work here is a clarion call," Rosenworcel said. She characterized the organization's first Broadband Imperative report in 2012 as an incentive for the FCC to update its E-rate program which helps connect schools and libraries to broadband. 

But she pointed out that today "seven in 10 teachers assign homework that requires Internet access," putting it in the context of FCC data showing that "one in three household does not have broadband service." Rosenworcel called the sector that is not reached as a "homework gap" where students cannot fully complete school assignments. 

Her remarks never mention the role of cable TV operators in developing broadband services for audiences who can use such facilities to close the homework gap. 

She cited examples of students' creative efforts to access broadband -- from sitting in fast food restaurants or the parking lots near schools or the steps outside public libraries to use wireless broadband after school hours. 

"These kids are resilient. They are cobbling together whatever connectivity they can find to do their schoolwork," Rosenworcel said. "Their grit is impressive.  But it shouldn’t be this hard."

She cited the Library Service and Technology Act as "the only federal program exclusively for libraries." Although funds from this federal program support a range of projects for  libraries and learning, Rosenworcel suggested that "this kind of connectivity ... effort deserves support." She was particularly enthusiastic about such opportunities to "bridge the homework gap and close the cruelest part of the digital divide."

Moreover, she said, she envisioned that universal broadband access will be able to turn all students "into not just digital consumers but digital creators."