The wires may be there, but the dollars aren’t: Analysis shows why millions of California students lack broadband - Santa Rosa Press Democrat

Broadband internet, as defined by the FCC, constitutes any connection exceeding 25 megabits per second, or Mbps, to download content online, and 3 Mbps for uploading.  California agencies generally use a threshold of 6 Mbps download speed and 1 Mbps upload speed — the standard used in CalMatters' analysis.

"There is no one-size-fits all" speed for remote learning, said Greer Ahlquist, program director for EducationSuperHighway, a San Francisco-based nonprofit focused on bridging the K-12 digital divide. More people using a connection requires more bandwidth, as does streaming.

"Sometimes I just want to throw the computer across the room because it doesn't work."

Kiki Hall, fresno tenth-grader

The California School Board Association has urged a new FCC fund for K-12 connectivity to adopt a standard of 25 Mbps for download and 12 Mbps for upload for each student .

For Hall's family that would mean download speeds of at least 125 Mbps. Their current plan is 100. Hall's mom, Samantha Phillips, said she's thinking about switching to a faster $100 Xfinity plan when their AT&T contract ends in September. "We're just going to have to eat the bill," said Phillips who worked with disabled preschoolers before losing her job to the pandemic. 

"If it's a necessity, it shouldn't be an unreasonable amount to afford internet so your child can attend school," Phillips said.

Remote school exhausts Hall, who wants to become a professional cosmetologist after college. She seesaws between lacking motivation to log onto another day of remote school riddled with Wi-Fi challenges, and reminding herself it's important to do her best. Sometimes she'll stay up until 2 a.m. to finish an assignment, only to wake up bleary-eyed the next morning for a class that she can't log into.

"It's so frustrating because I'm trying so hard to keep up with my grades enough as it is and these Wi-Fi issues do not help one bit,"  Hall said. Her grades in math, already her toughest subject, have dropped below C's.

Gov. Gavin Newsom set a goal last summer of universal access to broadband with download speeds of at least 100 Mbps. 

According to CalMatters' analysis, those speeds are nearly universally available for households that attend suburban and urban schools, though they may not be able to afford it. But in rural school neighborhoods, just 68% have access to broadband with download speeds exceeding 100 Mbps.

Many students work with far less, whether through hotspots, discount plans or old technology.

Stan Santos, a splicing technician with AT&T and a representative for the Communications Workers of America union, has tested hotspots issued by school districts in multiple small farmworker communities in Fresno County. Most don't get above download speeds of 5 Mbps. 

Driving across the Central Valley's vast expanses of farmland, sometimes he happens on a stand of trees and a cluster of concrete brick buildings and trailers that house the families who work in those fields. The concrete blocks cell signal so children will sit outside with hotspots to log onto classes.  

Telecommunications companies often don't build out to these areas, Santos said. When they do, they provide copper-based Digital Subscriber Line connections, an older, slower broadband technology. On one splicing assignment, he visited a man living in a trailer in Coalinga, whose discount $10 per month DSL connection wasn't fast enough for both him and his son to go online at the same time, Santos said. So AT&T offered him a faster option, for $40 per month. Still DSL, it didn't top 6 Mbps download speed.

"...I can do nothing to help them."

Even before the pandemic, students without internet at home consistently scored lower in science, math and reading — something education leaders called the homework gap. 

With the internet at their disposal, curious students are able to continue learning on their own, said Imperial County Superintendent of Schools Todd Finnell, while those without one "get behind in all areas of life."

Even after the pandemic, students who can log on at home will have a big advantage. The pandemic has accelerated the integration of technology into K-12 education. In a recent national survey, 15% of school districts said they will continue virtual schooling after the pandemic. Another 10% planned to continue hybrid learning.

Remote learning may be especially important in disaster-prone California. Before the pandemic, fire and smoke often interrupted school days in San Mateo County, said County Superintendent of Schools Nancy Magee. 

Having online options makes schools resilient to future COVID-19 flare-ups, natural disasters, or even the next pandemic, so "you're not just sending kids home and canceling school for the day."