Click to visit OSBA's home page.
  • Ask OSBA
  • Contact us
  • Team Viewer
for help call: 1.800.578.OSBA
  • Programs

    Let us help
    • Board development
    • Charter schools and authorizers
    • Communications
    • Labor relations
    • Legislative
    • Litigation
    • PACE
    • Policy services
    • Recruitment & jobs
  • Topics

    I need to look up information
    • Ask OSBA
    • Board operations
    • Bonds
    • Budget & finance
    • Charter schools
    • Community engagement
    • Equity
    • Labor & negotiations
    • Legal
    • Legislative & advocacy
    • PERS
    • Policy
    • Public meetings & records
    • Student achievement & graduation
  • Training & Events

    Learning opportunities
    • Upcoming events
    • Previous events
    • Upcoming meetings
    • Previous meetings
    • Online training
    • Advocacy Opportunities
    • Training workshops
    • PACE trainings
    • Webinar archive
  • News Center

    Latest information
    • News stories
    • Legislative Highlights
    • OREdNews archive
    • Media releases
    • Social media
    • Education notes
    • Sounding Boards podcast
  • About OSBA

    Our association
    • Staff
    • Board of directors
    • Board members of color caucus
    • Legislative Policy Committee
    • Oregon school board member of the year
    • Governance documents
    • Election center
    • Finances
    • Membership
    • Jobs at OSBA
    • RFPs and equipment
  • My OSBA

    Your account
    • Member resources
    • New portal login
  • Home
  • News Center
  • Legislative Highlights
  • The Capitol View

Broadband should be Oregon priority for students

Monday, September 28, 2020

More than 150,000 of Oregon’s 582,661 students in K-12 lack access to high-speed internet, according to a report to the House Education Committee on Tuesday, Sept. 22. 

Rep. Cheri Helt emphasized the internet access problem education stakeholders have been working on for months during an interim legislative days presentation.

According to the Oregon Department of Education, 75% of Oregon students are learning online and that creates an equity problem when not all students have the minimum connectivity necessary for classes, said Helt in the House Education Committee meeting. The Bend Republican is a former school board member.

To really grasp the challenges that inadequate home broadband internet access can pose, OSBA staff have talked with stakeholders statewide. We’ve heard about “ranch kids” in Harney county and students with a Portland address who have no access to high-speed internet. This is a challenge for students and families everywhere in Oregon.

We have taken concrete steps to address this challenge. We have worked with state agencies to give districts access to reduced-cost wireless hotspots. We have forged relationships with telecommunications companies and internet service providers. We have worked to make sure that this issue is always a part of the conversation about student and family needs.

There is still more work to do, however, as evidenced by the presentation to the House Education Committee, entitled “Update from Broadband Technology Liaison.” That presentation underscored some of the recent successes, but also demonstrated the ongoing challenge in our collective COVID-19 pandemic response.

We have worked hard, and we expect to work harder. Until we can all safely return to schools and school buildings, student home access to high-speed internet will be a priority for OSBA.

- Richard Donovan
Legislative Services specialist

Popular Content

  • Ask OSBA
  • OSBA Staff
  • Online Store
  • Contact us
  • Feedback
  • Help
  • Legal notice / disclaimer
  • Links
  • Sitemap
  • Subscribe

1201 Court Street NE, Suite 400, Salem, Oregon 97301
  • 1-800-578-6722
  • (503) 588-2800
  • FAX fax: (503) 588-2813