Students across New Mexico have headed back to school and are settling into the routine of waking up early, juggling sports practices and after-school activities, and the nightly ritual of homework. But with an increasing number of teachers assigning homework that requires an internet connection, just getting assignments done presents a real challenge for the nearly one-third of New Mexico kids who don’t have access to the internet at home.
(From left) Rosenworcel, Udall, and teacher Audra Bluehouse look on as students play a vocabulary word game in Bluehouse’s class. Behind them is Angela Navarette, vice president-general manager of Univision’s KBNA, KANA and KQBU stations in El Paso, Texas. Many students at Hatch Valley High School have access to computers and the internet only at school.
This digital divide — or homework gap — puts those students at a disadvantage to their peers that is deeply unfair. Everyone in New Mexico deserves equal access to educational and economic development tools, and it’s why I’m pushing to extend broadband internet throughout the state, especially in highly rural, low-income and Tribal communities.
This spring, I held a roundtable discussion at Hatch Valley High School — located in one of the many New Mexico communities where students have to be resourceful each night just to get their homework done. They visit friends or relatives with broadband, use expensive data on their cell phones, or even catch the Wi-Fi in the local Pic Quik convenience store parking lot. One student athlete, Jonah Madrid, told us that he often travels hours by school bus to away games only to return to the school parking lot so he can access the school’s network. He said that if the school bus had Wi-Fi, he could do his homework on the bus, save time, and get home earlier.
(Center) Hatch Valley High School student athlete Jonah Madrid at a roundtable discussion with Udall proposed putting Wi-Fi on school buses so he could do his homework while traveling to and from games.
I think this is a great idea. Some schools are already experimenting with school bus Wi-Fi, but most New Mexico schools will need financial assistance to make it a reality. So last month, I questioned Federal Communications Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel about it during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing, and she committed to working on it with me. And earlier this month, I sent a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, calling on his agency to use its existing authority to extend the E-Rate Program to help pay for it. E-Rate currently supports broadband in schools, and I believe it could be extended to create this “Wi-Fi on Wheels".
Internet access is essential no matter where you live — not only for education, but also for our businesses to compete on equal footing, and for rural New Mexicans to access vital health care services. I'll continue fighting for resources to close the homework gap and ensure that students from low-income families and rural communities and all New Mexicans can reach their full potential and thrive.
