December 2020
K–12 Connections:
How Schools and Wireless Providers
Are Partnering to Get Students
Online During COVID-19
1
K–12 Connections:
How Schools and Wireless Providers
Are Partnering to Get Students
Online During COVID-19
Acknowledgments
Chiefs for Change, a bipartisan network of state and district education leaders, produced this report with support from
CTIA, an association that represents the U.S. wireless industry. e information reected in the report is from Chiefs
for Change members’ systems, CTIA, media reports, and other publicly available sources. Guilford County Schools and
Phoenix Union High School District provided images or opportunities to capture photos used in the report.
OVERVIEW
When schools closed their doors in March due to
COVID-19, educators across the country immediately
turned to meeting their students’ basic needs: Leaders
set up places for families to get meals; distributed critical
public health information; provided links to local social
service agencies; and transitioned to distance learning.
As part of that shi, districts conducted surveys that
conrmed what they already knew—an alarming number
of students did not have devices and internet connections
at home.
With classes taking place entirely online, Americans
came together to help address the unprecedented
circumstances threatening students’ ability to learn.
is paper outlines some of those eorts, focusing
in particular on the ways in which school systems,
state education departments, and wireless providers
collaborated to rapidly deploy hotspot connectivity
solutions for students and sta during COVID-19.
Collectively, these initiatives have delivered internet
speeds and data amounts to support virtual school-
related learning for more than 2.4 million children
throughout the course of the pandemic. Without
wireless hotspots and emergency assistance, many
more students would be locked out of learning.
Under normal circumstances, a lack of technology and
connectivity makes it dicult for children to complete
their assignments or participate in learning opportunities
readily available to their more auent peers. But the
digital divide has become a full-blown crisis during the
pandemic. e problem aects nearly 17 million students
across the United States and disproportionately impacts
children of color and those from low-income families.
As the Alliance for Excellent Education has reported,
34 percent of American Indian/Alaska Native families
and about 31 percent each of Black and Latino families
lack access to high-speed home internet, compared to
21 percent of White families. From a socioeconomic
perspective, 4.6 million families who earn less than
$50,000 per year don’t have the internet at home.
School buildings in some communities have reopened.
Yet the dire need for technology and home internet
remains, and COVID-19 has catalyzed new eorts
to connect students. Federal Communications
Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel has noted that “We
have to start recognizing that for students who don’t
have internet access at home, having the school loan out
a wireless hot spot is the dierence between keeping up
in class and falling behind.” e coming pages highlight
partnerships between members of Chiefs for Change, a
bipartisan network of school superintendents and state
education leaders, and the U.S. wireless communications
industry that aim to bridge the connectivity gap.
In a recent survey, members of Chiefs for Change
identied ending the digital divide as their top policy
priority. roughout the pandemic, the organization has
provided direct technical assistance to chiefs; disbursed
$700,000 for projects in Chiefs for Change members’
systems; developed a wide range of partnerships to
support innovative ways of delivering the internet to
students’ homes; and advocated at the federal level for
universal broadband. e U.S. wireless industry has
launched new initiatives and adapted or expanded prior
oerings. rough monetary gis as well as donated or
reduced-cost equipment and service plans, the nation’s
wireless providers have played a critical role in the eort
to ensure students are able to participate in online classes
and do their schoolwork.
ese partnerships between education systems and the
telecommunications industry are an important part of
the work to end the digital divide. But, to be clear, they
are not enough to fully solve the problem. Longer term,
the lack of universal internet access is a national issue
that needs a national solution. e federal government
must work with school systems, companies, states, and
others to enact a plan for universal broadband.
2
3
Education Leaders’ and Wireless
Providers’ Rapid Response
to Connectivity Gaps
In the early days of the pandemic, systems leaders
and wireless providers immediately began working to
respond to students’ urgent need for connectivity.
For instance, in Rhode Island, the state commissioner of
elementary and secondary education, Angélica Infante-
Green, a member of Chiefs for Change, worked with
Gov. Gina Raimondo and asked her to: “Call Verizon,
call T-Mobile, call Sprint . . . have them give us free
hotspots.” As Infante-Green said, “at happened,
overnight.” e state partnered with wireless providers,
and, in a matter of weeks, families with cell service
from Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T were able to use
the wireless hotspot feature on their phone to connect
computers and tablets to the internet, free of charge and
with no usage or overage fees.
When District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS)
closed earlier this year, T-Mobile helped implement
school leaders’ plan to distribute connected devices for
at-home learning, providing 5,000 hotspots. Chiefs for
Change board member and DCPS Chancellor Lewis
Ferebee said, “Technology is a critical need for our
students to continue their education while learning at
home, and DCPS is proud to work with partners who can
help us ensure that families have the resources they need
in this unprecedented moment.”
Wireless Hotspots: The Fastest Way to
Get Students Connected to the Internet
rough partnerships with wireless providers, schools
used various kinds of wireless hotspots to eciently
connect their students. ese included mobile hotspots,
prepaid hotspots, public Wi-Fi hotspots, and buses
that were equipped with hotspots and parked in
neighborhoods where families didn’t have service. Many of
the hotspots came with unlimited or low-cost data plans.
Education leaders found wireless connectivity solutions
to be a rapid and eective way to get the internet into the
hands of students. Wireless hotspots are easy to distribute,
easy to install, and easy to use—and wireless providers have
been engaged partners with schools and education agencies.
“When we announced last summer that our schools would
remain closed through the rst semester of this academic
year, a quarter of our scholars didn’t have access to the
internet,” said Chiefs for Change member Errick Greene,
who is superintendent of Jackson Public Schools in
Mississippi. “ose without a device and a connection at
home were using paper learning packets. e donation we
received from T-Mobile makes it possible for our students
to do their schooling online. We were able to distribute the
hotspots quickly, and now our students can learn from their
teachers and engage with their peers in real time.”
Experience this year has shown that wireless hotspots with
robust data plans—oering approximately 30 GBs/month—
serve as a rapid solution for connecting individual students
4
and provide sucient internet connectivity for most online
learning. For instance, in order to “address the increased
need for bandwidth at schools as they move into a fully
virtual environment,” T-Mobile oered school districts 100
GBs/month, roughly “triple the amount of data . . . used by
students in the spring at the start of the pandemic.”
“e hotspots and data plans we got from AT&T and
Verizon provide the bandwidth our students need for
a full day of online classes, video streaming, and an
engaging remote learning experience,” Indianapolis
Public Schools Superintendent and Chiefs for Change
member Aleesia Johnson explained. “In my district,
where 50 percent of students previously lacked the
devices and Wi-Fi for meaningful distance learning, this
support from wireless partners has been invaluable.”
Bringing the power of wireless connectivity to
students during the pandemic has garnered praise
from policymakers, too. As Federal Communications
Commissioner Georey Starks noted, “I have seen great
work that the wireless industry has done throughout
the pandemic, particularly for students who are from
vulnerable communities, when connectivity has become
more critical than ever.”
Collaborative Connectivity
Partnerships Across the United States
e stories mentioned above are but a few instances of
how U.S. wireless providers have helped get students
connected to the internet. Over the past nine months,
education chiefs and wireless industry leaders have
made a real dierence, connecting more than 2.4 million
students during COVID-19. e wireless providers have
built on long-standing partnerships with education
systems and have forged new collaborations.
è T-Mobile has connected 1.6 million students in more
than 3,000 districts since February. In September, the
company launched Project 10Million, which promises
100 GBs of free high-speed data and at-cost devices
for participating school districts. e program costs
$10.7 billion, at the equivalent value of approximately
$500 annually per student household.
è Since March, AT&T has provided connected devices
and hotspots to nearly 400,000 students across 44
states. e carrier also established a $10 million
Distance Learning and Family Connections Fund to
give parents, students, and teachers tools they need
5
for at-home learning and expanded eligibility for its
low-cost Access from AT&T program in 21 states.
In addition, AT&T allowed qualifying schools to
activate new lines on qualied data-only plans for
school-issued tablets and 4G LTE-enabled laptops
and hotspot devices, as well as oered wireless data
service at no cost for 60 days.
e company announced a series of new initiatives
in November: For a limited time, it is oering a
two-year, $15-a-month unlimited wireless data
plan, with a free hotspot, for students at more than
135,000 schools across the country. It also pledged
$10 million to Connected Nation to provide free
internet connectivity and devices to underserved
communities. In order to support educators, AT&T is
giving teachers a discount on their personal wireless
service and is oering free products to support
virtual classrooms with lters for unsafe content and
malicious sites.
è Verizon has provided discounted connectivity to 36
million students across 38 states and the District of
Columbia. e company oers service plans with
unlimited 4G LTE internet access, mobile device
management, and other features at a reduced cost.
Beyond its distance learning partnerships, the
company stated that its Innovative Learning program
focused on supporting Title I schools will expand to
an additional 101 Title I middle schools across the
country. e expansion will reach more than 56,000
children for a total of 350,000 students served since
the program began in 2012.
è U.S. Cellular eliminated overage charges for
customers on smartphone legacy plans, including
Shared Connect and other postpaid and prepaid plans
with data limits, so customers could use the data they
needed without worrying about their bill. e carrier
also provided certain customers with an extra 15 GBs
of hotspot data to adjust to shiing and varying work
arrangements and eliminated data limits on all high-
speed internet plans.
è CTIA, an association representing the wireless
communications industry, launched its Connecting
Kids Initiative, which allows districts to submit their
connectivity needs and establish partnerships with the
wireless operators in their communities.
e digital divide is expansive, but U.S. wireless
providers have delivered critical, short-term supports.
Partnerships between Education Systems Led by Members of Chiefs for Change
and U.S. Wireless Providers
Education System Wireless Partner(s) Project Details
Aldine Independent
School District, Texas
Superintendent
LaTonya Goffney
AT&T, Verizon AT&T and Verizon are both offering reduced-cost internet options
for qualifying households.
The district has also purchased devices from T-Mobile through the
Texas Education Agency’s Operation Connectivity program.
Baltimore City Public Schools,
Maryland
CEO Sonja Santelises
T-Mobile, Verizon Baltimore City Public Schools purchased 15,500 hotspots from
T-Mobile and service for six months. The district hopes to extend
the service agreements to August 2021 through fundraising
efforts. It is also looking to include charter schools under its
T-Mobile contract to support them in their purchase of hotspots.
In addition, Baltimore City Public Schools is participating in the
Verizon Innovative Learning Program, which will provide ve
campuses with an iPad for every student and teacher.
Boulder Valley School District,
Colorado
Superintendent Rob Anderson
T-Mobile, Verizon Boulder Valley procured T-Mobile and Verizonhotspotsfor
studentswithout internet access.
Broward County Public
Schools, Florida
Superintendent Robert Runcie
Verizon, T-Mobile,
AT&T
Five Broward County middle schools are participating in Verizon’s
Digital Promise Innovative Learning program. Verizon is providing
iPads with built-in connectivity and other resources to students in
those schools. An additional nine middle schools are in the nal
rounds of becoming a part of the program’s eighth cohort, with
another 15 schools set to join the program in the coming months.
Broward County has also partnered with Sprint (T-Mobile) since
2017 on the 1Million Project (now Project 10Million) to provide
mobile and device internet connectivity for low-income students,
and the district has partnered with AT&T to reduce the digital
divide for home-based internet through Access from AT&T.
Caddo Parish Public
Schools, Louisiana
Superintendent T. Lamar Goree
AT&T AT&T provided low-cost internet service to eligible customers.
Chicago Public
Schools, Illinois
CEO Janice Jackson
T-Mobile, AT&T,
Verizon
Chicago Public Schools partnered with T-Mobile to launch
Chicago Connected, a program that aims to deliver free home
internet service to 100,000 students. In addition, the district is
collaborating with AT&T and Verizon on other efforts.
Cleveland Metropolitan School
District, Ohio
CEO Eric Gordon
AT&T, T-Mobile AT&T provided free Wi-Fi internet access for a two-month period.
T-Mobile is providing 7,500 unlimited data hotspots and $1 million
of in-kind equipment donations over the next two years through
its EmpowerED initiative.
6
Education System Wireless Partner(s) Project Details
Colorado Department
of Education
Commissioner of
Education Katy Anthes
T-Mobile T-Mobile committed to providing free Wi-Fi hotspots and up to
100 GBs of data annually to 34,000 low-income households in
Colorado.
Denver Public
Schools, Colorado
Superintendent
Susana Cordova
T-Mobile The district received free hotspots through Sprint’s 1Million
Project Foundation.
District of Columbia Public
Schools, District of Columbia
Chancellor Lewis Ferebee
T-Mobile, Verizon T-Mobile provided 5,000 hotspots for students. In addition, three
schools are entering their second year of the Verizon Innovative
Learning Schools device grant, a 1:1 tablet initiative through
Digital Promise.
Everett Public Schools,
Washington
Superintendent Ian Saltzman
T-Mobile Through the 1Million Project, Sprint provided hotspots and 10
GBs of data per month for high school students who qualify for
free and reduced-price lunch. The district is hoping to expand this
partnership with T-Mobile’s Project 10Million and secure 100 GBs
of data for students per year at no cost.
Guilford County Schools,
North Carolina
Superintendent
Sharon Contreras
Verizon, T-Mobile,
AT&T
Guilford County Schools has a long-standing relationship with
Verizon through which the district has purchased cell phones and
MiFi units for staff. The district acquired 1,000 Verizon hotspots
and 800 T-Mobile hotspots for students. As part of North Carolina
Gov. Roy Cooper’s NC Student Connect initiative, Guilford County
Schools has received 12,500 Verizon MiFi units with 12 months
of service. In addition, the district worked with AT&T to mount 97
access points on the exterior of school buildings for parking lot
connectivity. T-Mobile, a district partner since 2017, continues to
provide mobile and device internet connectivity for students from
low-income families.
Highline Public Schools,
Washington
Superintendent Susan Eneld
T-Mobile The district secured 2,300 hotspots with data plans from
T-Mobile and will be receiving more through the provider’s Project
10Million.
Indianapolis Public
Schools, Indiana
Superintendent
Aleesia Johnson
AT&T, Verizon The providers are offering short-term connectivity solutions
including devices, free data plans, and Jetpacks.
Jackson Public Schools,
Mississippi
Superintendent Errick Greene
T-Mobile T-Mobile’s Project 10Million provided free Wi-Fi hotspots.
NOLA Public Schools,
Louisiana
Superintendent
Henderson Lewis, Jr.
T-Mobile Through its contract with T-Mobile, NOLA Public Schools is
providing unlimited smartphone data to all current subscribers,
and increased the data allowance to schools and students using
the company’s digital learning programs.
7
Education System Wireless Partner(s) Project Details
Oakland Unied School
District, California
Superintendent Kyla
Johnson-Trammell
T-Mobile, Verizon T-Mobile has a continuing partnership with the district and
provided more than 10,000 hotspots to students.
Verizon contributed to the district’s campaign focused on
providing computer and internet access for all students.
Ohio Department of Education
Superintendent of Public
Instruction Paolo DeMaria
AT&T AT&T is providing free or discounted service to eligible customers.
Orange County Public
Schools, Florida
Superintendent
Barbara Jenkins
T-Mobile The T-Mobile partnership supports tens of thousands of free
hotspots and data for middle and high school students.
Phoenix Union High
School District, Arizona
Superintendent Chad Gestson
T-Mobile, Verizon T-Mobile and Verizon provided free or reduced-cost hotspots and
reduced-cost data plans.
San Antonio Independent
School District, Texas
Superintendent
Pedro Martinez
Verizon Verizon is providing iPads to 3,100 students and 190 teachers.
The School District of Palm
Beach County, Florida
Superintendent
Donald Fennoy II
T-Mobile T-Mobile has been providing free or reduced-cost data and Wi-Fi
hotspots to eligible customers.
The School District of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Superintendent
William Hite, Jr.
AT&T PublicAT&Thotspots are available throughout the city for all
individuals.
Tulsa Public Schools,
Oklahoma
Superintendent Deborah Gist
Verizon Through a competitive grant process, the district received nearly
11,000 Verizon Unlimited 4G LTE data plans and Jetpacks, which
the state was able to purchase at a discounted rate. Through
its 1Million Project, Sprint provided 328 free hotspots and data
service to students.
e information in this table was obtained om Chiefs for Change members’ systems, CTIA, and publicly available media reports.
8
Innovative Cross-State Frameworks
for Deploying Wireless Hotspots
One of the ways that education systems are collaborating
with wireless providers is through cross-state
frameworks designed to simplify and streamline how
schools procure devices and hotspots from Verizon.
e Georgia Department of Education is coordinating
a partnership to connect up to 12.5 million students
in that state and 10 others, while the Massachusetts
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
is leading an initiative that covers up to 4.7 million
students in eight states and the District of Columbia.
e largest such partnership, with the Texas Education
Agency (TEA), will help connect up to 18.9 million
students in that state and 15 others. As this article notes,
computer manufacturers are oering hardware at deep
discounts to TEA and other state education agencies in
the partnership, while T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon are
“providing hotspot devices that turn connections on their
cellular networks into Wi-Fi networks that can be used in
homes, along with unlimited, full-speed data plans.”
TEA is handling purchasing and distribution, with
local school districts sharing the costs. e opportunity
to buy in bulk is supporting systems like Houston’s
Aldine Independent School District, where Chiefs for
Change member LaTonya Goney is superintendent.
In Aldine, more than 80 percent of students qualify for
free or reduced-priced meals, and more than 30 percent
of children do not have Wi-Fi at home. Cross-state
frameworks are helping individual districts deal with
supply chain challenges and are getting students the
technology they need to learn this school year.
CARES Act Funding to Support
Educational Connectivity
A major portion of the funding for the technology
purchased through the cross-state partnerships and
other initiatives was allocated through the Coronavirus
Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Signed
into law March 27, 2020, CARES included $13.5 billion
for K–12 education specically, with an additional $3
billion to be used for education at governors’ discretion.
Prior to passage of the legislation, Chiefs for Change
advocated for a federal stimulus package with money
for technology, personal protective equipment, mental
health services, and robust learning opportunities and
interventions. School systems are leveraging CARES
funding and new partnerships with wireless providers to
get students connected.
Chicago Public Schools, under the leadership of Chiefs
for Change board member Janice Jackson, for example,
launched a groundbreaking $50-million initiative to bring
9
CROSS-STATE FRAMEWORKS FOR DEPLOYING WIRELESS HOTSPOTS
Georgia Department of
Education Framework
Massachusetts Department
of Elementary and Secondary
Education Framework
Texas Education Agency
Framework
free, high-speed home internet to 100,000 students in
need over the next four years. e project is one of the
largest and longest-term eorts of its kind and is funded
in part through CARES Act dollars and support from
philanthropic partners. A press release from the mayor’s
oce explains that phase one of the project will primarily
focus on providing wired internet access and extending
existing hotspot service for eligible students in temporary
living situations. T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon are also
helping to develop other potential connectivity solutions.
In Oklahoma, where 41 percent of students lack an
adequate high-speed connection for online learning,
the department of education partnered with Verizon
and applied a portion of the department’s $15.3 million
in CARES funding to purchase 50,000 hotspot Jetpacks
and data plans at a discounted rate. rough Oklahoma’s
competitive grant process, 175 school districts secured
state-purchased devices. Tulsa Public Schools, under the
leadership of Chiefs for Change member Deborah Gist,
received nearly 11,000 devices to connect children from
low-income families in the district. Tulsa Public Schools
will pay a monthly fee for unlimited data service for each
awarded device for at least six months. Verizon has also
committed to providing technical support throughout
the year.
CONCLUSION
America’s wireless providers have delivered critical
technology and connectivity supports in a time of
extreme need. rough coordinated eorts with Chiefs
for Change members, the wireless industry continues
to expand opportunities and get students resources to
learn during the COVID-19 pandemic. While America’s
schools have relied on support from wireless providers
and others in recent months, we as a nation need a
permanent solution.
As Baltimore City Public Schools CEO and Chiefs for
Change member Sonja Santelises has noted, “In the next
18 months, even under the best circumstance, I can’t
imagine internet service not being integral to schooling.”
e federal government must work with industry and
others to help provide universal broadband so every child
has adequate technology and the consistent, reliable
internet service they need to succeed.
10
