August 3, 2020
By News Director Jared Atha
Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister announced Friday that 175 Oklahoma school districts, including seven in western Oklahoma, have been awarded mobile internet access and devices through 50,000 Verizon Unlimited 4GE data plans and hot spots, following a competitive grant process.
The Oklahoma State Department of Education grants leveraged a portion of the agency’s set-aside monies from the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund created by the federal Coronavirus Relief and Economic Security Act to help ensure all students have connectivity to access online learning if community spread of COVID-19 requires districts to use distance or hybrid learning models.
Hofmeister stated that many districts have used a portion of the funds allocated to them under the CARES Act to purchase a sufficient number of devices for every student to have access to technology however some students don’t have access to the internet to use that technology.
Local schools awarded the hot spots include Elk City, Merritt, Canute, Burns Flat-Dill City, Erick, Mangum, and Granite.
Districts receiving the devices, which Verizon sold to the State Department of Education at a discounted rate, will assign and deploy them under specific requirements. For example, districts awarded hot spots must pay a nominal monthly service fee for unlimited 4G LTE data service for each awarded device for at least six months and assure that devices are assigned only to low-income students.
Verizon expects to ship hot spots to districts so that they will be available when school starts. The company will also provide technical support throughout the school year.
Districts have the opportunity to purchase additional hot spots for students not considered low income and for teachers and staff at the same cost and rate secured by OSDE for the grant.
