Internet access is the key to educational equity, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona emphasized during a stop in Overland Park on Tuesday.
Federal Communications Commission Chair Jessica Rosenworcel joined Secretary Cardona at the Johnson County Central Resource Library. The stop is part of a week-long back-to-school-inspired bus tour Cardona is taking across the Midwest.
On Tuesday afternoon, the pair visited with local educators and leaders around the community to discuss internet connectivity in education.
Internet access is vital to education equity, the secretary says
Johnson County has widespread high-speed internet, but some areas of the county are still struggling to access broadband, especially in the more rural areas.
The roundtable on Tuesday focused primarily on education, connectivity and the lessons learned during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic about the role internet access plays in equitable education.
Multiple times, Cardona said the internet has become “the new pencil” as a basic requirement for successful learning and an integral part of the modern education system.
“The reality is if we have a group of students that does not have access [to the internet], they’re not going to be able to achieve at the same levels,” he said. “This is the equity issue of our moment.”
Superintendents Michelle Hubbard, Shawnee Mission schools; Tonya Merrigan, Blue Valley schools; and Brent Yeager, Olathe schools, were all present, as were Kansas AARP Director Glenda DuBoise, T-Mobile Senior Education Program Manager Andrea Chambers, Pedro Zamora of the Hispanic Economic Development Corporation and Aaron Deacon from the Kansas City Digital Drive.
During the discussion, Cardona and Rosenworcel both stressed that work is being done at the federal level to improve access to high-speed and affordable internet service, particularly through the Affordable Connectivity Program, part of the multibillion-dollar Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill signed into law in 2021.
There’s a divide in broadband, access to education for rural students
For some communities, progress to improve access to the internet and the education resources it provides has been slow.
“As Secretary of Education, I noticed that rural communities were significantly impacted by the pandemic,” Cardona said. “During the pandemic when they couldn’t come to school, they were home and they didn’t have internet access. We need to do better for them.”
Representatives from Gardner-Edgerton schools, Spring Hill schools and De Soto schools — all of which have large student populations who come from more rural areas of Johnson County — were not included in the conversation with Cardona and Rosenworcel.
“To those rural communities, what I’m going to say is this President is going to put the digital divide in your rearview mirror and not just through talk but through action. It’s getting done,” Cardona said. “We’re committed to making sure that they get the support and the intervention that they need, because for far too long, rural communities have been ignored and forgotten.”
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