Broadband

Kansas to Upgrade Broadband for Every School District

• By Sri Ravipati
• 12/01/16

A new partnership between the Kansas State Department of Education, Kansas State Board of Education, Kansas Department of Administration and national nonprofit EducationSuperHighway will bring high-speed broadband to all of the state’s school districts.

The new initiative, Kansas Connect and Learn Initiative, will provide school districts with free “support, data analysis and technical resources needed to upgrade broadband networks to scalable, cost-effective infrastructure and high-speed bandwidth,” according to a statement. Kansas state agencies will invest $100 million over the next five years for the upgrades.

“Ensuring that every classroom in our state has high-speed internet is the first essential step to enabling digital learning and unleashing the potential of our children to compete in the 21st century workforce,” said Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, in a statement.

Since 2012, EducationSuperHighway has helped more than 20 million student get connected this year, but the nonprofit is still working to bring the remaining school districts (23 percent) up to speed. Earlier this month, EducationSuperHighway released an online tool for districts to compare broadband prices, speeds, bandwidth and more for free.  

To learn more, visit the EducationSuperHighway site.