The Federal Communications Commission has committed another $1 billion-plus in funding for emergency (COVID-19-related) broadband connectivity for schools and libraries.

Also Read: FCC Opens New Connectivity Fund Filling Window

The FCC said Tuesday that in its second round of funding, $1,159,681,350.34 will be going to 2,471 schools and 205 libraries. The money can go toward broadband service and connectivity devices. It can also go for off-campus learning, given the pandemic.

So far, the FCC has committed $2,362,788,847.22 ($1,203,107,496.88 in the first round) and said it has met its own goal of responding to half of the applications within 60 days of the closing of the first filing window.

The most recent filing window opened Sept. 28 and closes Oct. 13.

As part of the massive COVID-19 American Relief Act, the FCC had 60 days to set up an e-rate Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) of $7.6 billion (minus $1 million to pay for FCC Inspector General oversight of the program). The Universal Service Administrative Co. which oversees the FCC's ongoing Universal Service Fund (USF) subsidy program, is administering the emergency fund, which is separate from USF subsidies.

Fox News on March 26 will air a special edition of its primetime news show The Ingraham Angle focused on education.

The Ingraham Angle Town Hall: Time for Class -- hosted by Laura Ingraham -- will focus on the impact the pandemic has had on Virginia students, teachers, and parents, said the network. Among the topics that will be covered during the special include the challenges of virtual learning and the debate surrounding reopening schools.

The town hall will feature audience-submitted questions as well as additional guests, including former White House senior coronavirus adviser Dr. Scott Atlas and Stanford University medical professor Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, said the network.

Discovery Education said it has expanded its partnership with Missouri’s Poplar Bluff Public Schools bringing the Discovery Communications’ unit’s digital social studies and science textbooks to junior and high school classrooms district wide.

Discovery Education will support the school system’s digital transformation in partnership with Mooresville Graded School District.

“We are thrilled to expand our collaboration with Discovery Education to provide our educators with resources that are relevant to the 21st Century learner, as well as critical to preparing students to be competitive in the global economy and meeting students’ instructional needs,” said Patty Robertson, assistant superintendent of curriculum at Poplar Bluff Public Schools in a statement. “Our partnerships with national leaders like Discovery Education and Mooresville Graded School District support us as we strive to educate all students to their full potential, and inspire them to be lifelong learners who possess the skills and knowledge necessary to be productive members in our changing world.”

Over the past two years, Poplar Bluff Public Schools has worked closely with Mooresville Graded School District (MGSD), which is nationally recognized for the success of its digital transformation and long-time partnership with Discovery Education,  in order to ensure their conversion to digital learning environments continues to positively impact student outcomes and engagement. The school district has hosted teachers from MGSD for numerous professional development days throughout the year, including the “Mooresville Institute,” which focused on the effective integration of digital technology into instruction.

The expanded six-year partnership with Discovery Education will support the district’s goal of providing creative and meaningful learning experiences for students to improve learning outcomes by integrating Discovery Education Science Techbook into junior and high school classrooms and Social Studies Techbook for all junior high students. Discovery Education’s digital textbook series promotes collaboration, creativity and participatory learning. The series delivers individualized resources and engages students in learning concepts through rich digital assets, including virtual labs, video clips, an interactive glossary and more. Poplar Bluff junior and high school students will also continue to use Discovery Education Streaming Plus, a comprehensive digital library of more than 150,000 learning assets aligned to state and national curriculum standards.

As part of its efforts to provide dynamic and interactive learning opportunities to all students, the school district issued MacBook Airs to 800 junior high students for use at school and at home during the 2013-2014 school year. This coming school year, 1,400 high-schoolers will also receive a laptop as part of the 1:1 learning initiative.

“Discovery Education is proud to be a partner working towards Poplar Bluff Public Schools’ mission of achieving excellence through learning: every child, every hour, every day,” said Jason Barnes, vice president, Discovery Education in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to support Superintendent Chris Hon and the entire Poplar Bluff team in their digital transformation with the highest quality digital resources and customized, effective professional development.”