Schools across Oregon closed for the academic year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, turning the lives of nearly 600,000 K-12 students and their families upside down.

Our schools launched distance learning in April, as districts across the state did the same. We have progressed together on the state’s “Distance Learning for All” plan, and are now preparing for the upcoming school year. However, Oregon families are facing challenges because they lack the digital infrastructure that is crucial for conducting online learning at home.

This problem is not exclusive to Oregon. As many as 12 million U.S. school-age children don’t have access to the high-speed internet they need to complete schoolwork in their homes. This lack of at-home broadband connectivity, called the “Homework Gap,” tends to unfairly impact students from rural areas and low-income, urban neighborhoods.

In Oregon, Umatilla School District surveyed all households with school-age children and found that approximately one-quarter had either zero, or restricted, internet access. The district has responded by increasing the Wi-Fi range at school buildings to include parking lots and key neighborhoods, adding Wi-Fi to school buses and making laptops and Wi-Fi hotspots available for students to take home.

A similar survey conducted by Stanfield School District found that about 10% of students don’t have internet access and 5% of those who do are limited to access via smartphone. Just as problematic, about 10% of the teaching staff didn’t have internet access at home either. Online learning options are limited even for those who do have access, as some schools in the district have only one internet service provider available, with speed offerings too slow to stream video content.

Stanfield, too, has bought hotspots for those areas with limited access, and is providing Chromebooks to students who need them.

It is simply unacceptable, however, that students and teachers in Oregon face these barriers. We are grateful that Sen. Jeff Merkley and Sen. Ron Wyden have been steadfast advocates for our rural schools and programs that allow low-income and diverse students to thrive and achieve. The House passage of the HEROES Act, which includes the Emergency Educational Connections Act of 2020, was a step in the right direction; however, more action is needed. No student should lag behind their peers because they lack internet access at home, or have to try to do their homework on a smartphone.

To ensure an equitable education for all Oregon students, before the August recess, Congress and the Administration should:

• Dedicate at least $5.25 billion in a fourth stimulus package to providing students with safe high-speed internet at home, and ensure that inadequate satellite internet with data limits doesn’t constrain federal grant funding.

• Update the definition of “classroom” in the Federal Communications Commission’s E-Rate program, so that emergency funds can be used to increase students’ connectivity at home — where their current classroom is.

• Allocate additional funding for other urgent K-12 education needs. The monies from the previous stimulus bills have run dry, and school districts urgently need more help, particularly as state funding is reduced.

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically accelerated an educational transformation that has been taking shape for decades. Some Oregon school districts got ahead of the pack on digital learning before this crisis arrived, but many simply did not have the capacity. Advocates in Oregon and across the country have raised their voices by sending over 7,700 letters to Congress to tell them about the pressing educational needs in their own communities.

In 2020, having broadband internet at home is not a nice-to-have option, but a prerequisite for modern academic success. Oregon students need high-speed internet access and devices to learn, grow and succeed. The federal government has a responsibility to ensure this happens.

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