Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, joined Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, State Board of Education President Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond and others in “working the phones,” the governor said. He announced the availability of thousands of devices and internet access to students around the state and the formation of a state task force to promote digital equity and Internet access. Among the takeaways:
• A variety of companies, business leaders and philanthropists committed to providing more than 70,000 laptops, Chromebooks and tablets to students starting next week, Siebel Newsom said, noting that one in five children across the state “lack connectivity or an appropriate device for remote instruction.”
Among those contributing, T-Mobile will donate 13,000 tablets in addition to the previously announced 100,000 hot spot devices in the Google partnership; Amazon will donate 10,000 tablets; and Verizon will partner with the state to provide discounted Internet to 250,000 students. HP Inc. will donate 5,000 Chromebooks, and Lenovo will donate 4,000 Chromebooks. Apple will work with 800 school districts to offer free coaching for teachers on transitioning to distance learning. The company will also offer special pricing on iPads with cellular service and has given, Newsom’s office said in a news release, “the equivalent of 9,000 iPads to ensure the most vulnerable in our state have access.”
Monetary contributions included $1 million each from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a company owned by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan; from Twitter founder Jack Dorsey via his charity fund Start Small LLC; and from investor and venture capitalist John Doerr and his wife, Ann.
Newsom gave thanks for the “unprecedented private sector support” but said an important part of the narrative is “we’re not done." He said: “This is the beginning of a process. We have a lot more work to do.”
• The rollout of devices and Internet access began after the announcement on April 1 that Google would donate 100,000 mobile hot spots, the governor said during Monday's briefing, in response to a question from Techwire.
“Those will start rolling out the first week of May. That’s a massive procurement and a massive logistics effort, first week of May specifically as it relates to Google’s announcement,” Newsom said. He indicated that the company has already donated its initially announced 4,000 Chromebooks, which are being distributed from regional centers to more than 79 small or rural school districts.
• The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the California Department of Education (CDE) will together distribute $30 million in support of Internet access. The CPUC will make $25 million available from the California Teleconnect Fund for hot spots and Internet service for households with students. School districts will be able to apply for 50 percent discounts on the cost of hot spots and monthly service charges through Sept. 30, with rural, small and medium districts getting priority. The CPUC will also put $5 million from the California Advanced Services Fund toward the costs of computing and hot spot devices.
CDE will review requests and coordinate purchases “to leverage economies of scale,” according to the news release. Low-income communities and those with high percentages of residents with limited English proficiency, or with high percentages of residents with limited education, will get priority.
• The California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) will partner with the city of Sacramento on a 60-day proof of concept to be launched May 1. Officials will retrofit seven transit buses, the state said, as “super hotspots” offering connectivity within a 500-foot radius. Buses will be parked and operational from four to eight hours at a time to offer high-speed internet to people who are homebound following Newsom’s March 19 stay-at-home order. Hot spot locations and protocols will be identified in collaboration between the city, Valley Vision, the Sacramento Public Library, Sacramento Regional Transit, CalSTA and public health officials.
• Thurmond reminded those watching the governor’s daily press event on social media that he created the Closing the Digital Divide Task Force on Thursday, a group of education officials, legislators and others charged with creating a blueprint and a timeline on providing statewide broadband access. The group held its first meeting Monday on Facebook Live.
“Simply put, we talk all the time about how we must meet the needs of our students during this pandemic," Thurmond said. "Having the tools to learn from a distance is critical. Nothing replaces the importance of a great teacher, but these tools connect our kids to teachers -- and our kids have to have them.”
