EDUCATION
REPORT FINDS ARKANSAS STUDENTS IN NEED OF MORE CONNECTIVITY By Emily Beirne
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ity to afford to ith each adhave broadband. vancement Those issues have in education techbeen consistent nology, classrooms throughout. find innovative “Even before the ways to combine pandemic, a lot of curriculum with people had to resort the digital world. to all sorts of ways The reliance to access internet on connectivity connection without and software was having the benefit highlighted durof total availability, ing the pandemic, so I would say that as students were in The Pulaski County Special School District provided Chromebooks for all its this issue has been the physical classwith us for quite room one day and students in 2020. some time. The pandemic forced us to recognize how important in the Zoom classroom the next. One issue that arose from this broadband access is as a fundamental element for infrastrucnew classroom setting was the lack of broadband access faced by ture programs throughout the United States.” many students. As part of the Biden Administration’s America Dr. Jay Barth, professor emeritus of politics at Hendrix ColJobs Plan, the White House recently released reports for each lege, is another face in the mission to bring connectivity to all of state highlighting infrastructure and broadband needs. Arkansas, especially local schools. Barth is the chief education Its report for Arkansas found: officer for the city of Little Rock and a former member of the • More than 27 percent of Arkansans reside in an area where state board of education. He said students living in rural areas there is no broadband internet at minimally acceptable speeds. of the state face the issue of limited access to internet providers • 54 percent of Arkansans have access to only one internet and connection speed, partly because of Arkansas’ landscape. provider capable of providing an internet connection that “A lot of the state is struggling with access because of the geruns at minimally acceptable speeds. ography of the state,” he said. “Some of the most mountainous • 20 percent of Arkansas households do not have an internet areas are very challenging; parts of west Arkansas are particusubscription at all — likely due to affordability. larly challenging because of disconnect from some of the big Many prominent Arkansans are working to fix the problem. providers, and the Delta is challenged with the combination of Former Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola is working with the location and poverty there. We’re a challenged state in a lot of Kauffman Foundation Mayors’ Council to improve and create different ways, and that’s been the case for a good while. There policies for broadband access. are very few places in Arkansas that have all the answers, and “The availability of broadband is really a major infrastructhat’s why this project requires a really nuanced approach, rathture pillar,” Stodola told Arkansas Money & Politics. “I think we’ve er than a one-size-fits-all approach. This is a complicated state known that access in two different contexts has been critically in terms of our geography and our issues of poverty.” important. One is access in rural Arkansas and having adequate Students living in urban areas are likewise at disadvantages broadband that is usable, and then in the urban areas, the abilJ U LY 2 02 1
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