With the state well-into a school year that began with 95% of students in remote learning, Gov. Jay Inslee is now spending COVID-19 relief funding on computing devices for students who have none. | Stock photo
With the state well-into a school year that began with 95% of students in remote learning, Gov. Jay Inslee is now spending COVID-19 relief funding on computing devices for students who have none. | Stock photo
Washington will use $24 million of the federal CARES Act funding it received early in the COVID-19 pandemic to purchase 64,000 computing devices for use by the state’s school children.
The effort is meant to shore up gaps in the education system where students do not have access to a computing device for participation in distance learning, according to a news release from the office of Gov. Jay Inslee. The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) recently determined that approximately 64,000 students and staff in the Washington school system do not have any access to such a device of their own.
“Having their own device is vital to students and staff participating and succeeding in distance learning,” Inslee is quoted as saying in the release. “The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown challenges at every Washingtonian, especially working families and students – having the proper equipment to navigate their new educational reality shouldn’t be one of those challenges.”
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