Humboldt County schools gets $1.58M to close the ‘homework gap

March 15, 2022

Almost $1.6 million is headed to Humboldt County schools cover the cost of the laptops and Wi-Fi hotspots they needed to buy for students when the COVID-19 pandemic began.

North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman announced Tuesday that District 2 received just under $8 million, of which about $1.58 million is headed to Humboldt County schools. The funds are intended to go toward covering the costs of closing the “homework gap” by helping expand internet access to students’ homes.

“Families in my district are no strangers to the hurdles caused by the deep digital divide that has been brought to the national spotlight by COVID-19,” Huffman said in a statement. “The world has moved online, and kids without access to the internet and the opportunities that provides are often left to fall behind. These funds from the American Rescue Plan will go a long way in helping children in my congressional district get the tools they need to succeed in school.”

The Federal Communication Commission’s Emergency Connectivity Fund program awarded:

  • $124,769.79 for the Arcata Consortium;
  • $805,606.88 for the Eureka City Schools District;
  • $308,024.64 for the Klamath-Trinity Joint Unified School District;
  • $226,117 for the Northern Humboldt Union High School District;
  • $21,440 for Redwood Coast Montessori;
  • $12,527.02 for the Scotia Union Elementary School District;
  • and $81,299.41 for the South Bay Union School District.

Fred Van Vleck, superintendent of Eureka City Schools and South Bay Union, said the lion’s share his district spent went to purchasing Chromebooks and hotspots. Some of it will also go toward projects that are already underway, he said, like turning all the school buses into hotspots.

“It’s really brought us to a one-to-one Chromebook-to-student ratio,” Van Vleck told The Times-Standard. “And so we have Chromebooks available for every student.”

Whether those Chromebooks go home with students depends on their grade level now that the districts have resumed in-person learning, he said.

The hotspots aren’t being used as much as they were during the school shutdowns, but Van Vleck said they were needed for students who either live in rural areas without good broadband infrastructure or in homes without internet access.

About 33.8% of households in the county don’t have high-speed home internet access and 9.4% don’t have a computer, according to a report titled “Closing the Homework Gap in California” released in June by education advocacy organization Alliance for Excellent Education.

The “homework gap” has a disproportionate impact on children of color, children living in rural areas and children from low-income families, according to the report.

“These students have lower overall grade point averages, lower digital skills, and are less likely to attend college,” according to the report. “Consequently, California policymakers must provide the resources and financial investments needed to ensure all California children have the high-speed internet access and devices necessary for educational success.”

Beyond continued funding from the FCC, the report urges lawmakers to make the necessary investments to expand high-speed internet infrastructure across the state.

Sonia Waraich can be reached at 707-441-0504.


By:  Sonia Waraich
Source: Eureka Times-Standard