DENVER | As part of a negotiation with the Colorado Attorney General’s office over its merger with Sprint, T-Mobile will provide free wi-fi hotspots to low-income student households in Colorado.
About 34,000 families with children in school in Colorado will be able to access 100 gigabytes of annual data and qualify for discounted digital devices, such as tablets or laptops, because of the deal. State leaders hope it will help bridge the digital divide for students now learning from home.
The AG’s office has also filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission asking it to provide funding for broadband to students in online learning, and the Colorado Department of Education is allocating $2 million in CARES funding to districts for internet access.
These efforts were announced at a Wednesday morning news conference at Fort Logan Northgate School in Denver, where Gov. Jared Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser and state education commissioner Katy Anthes spoke about the importance of making sure that all students have access to broadband internet this school year.
About 65,000 students in Colorado don’t have reliable internet access, Polis said, and two-thirds of those students are Latino. Lack of internet worsens already existing educational disparities in the state, especially now when many students need the internet to go to school in the first place.
Roxana Barraza, a parent of two sons in Denver Public Schools, spoke about her challenges with internet access. Through a translator, she said that at the beginning of the pandemic, she didn’t have reliable internet, and was paying $30 a week so her kids could go to school. At one point her kids ended up missing a week of classes.
She happened to see an ad on TV for an Xfinity program offering internet for $10 a month, which “has saved my children’s education,” she said.
Antes said school districts can use the funding from the department of education to purchase hotspots, but can also use it for other “creative solutions,” especially in rural areas where hotspots don’t always work.
“Broadband is now an essential school supply,” Antes said.