Connect K-12’s 2023 report celebrates 74% of U.S. school districts now meeting FCC internet connectivity goal

Districts meeting or exceeding this benchmark pay less for high-speed internet access than others

WASHINGTON: Connected Nation’s (CN) Connect K-12 Program has released its 2023 Report on School Connectivity in collaboration with Funds For Learning (FFL).

The annual report, now in its fourth and final iteration, includes findings on the nation’s progress toward meeting the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) bandwidth goal of 1 Mbps per student.

School districts that are meeting the 1 Mbps per student goal are also getting internet access at a much lower rate.

The latest data show that 74% of school districts (9,573) across the country are now providing internet access at speeds that are sufficient to support digital learning in their classrooms every day — impacting 27.1 million students, an increase of over 5 million students since 2022.

“A critical finding is that school districts that are meeting the 1 Mbps per student goal are also getting access at a much lower rate than those districts not meeting that benchmark,” said Emily Jordan, Vice President of Education Initiatives, CN. “In fact, the cost is substantially higher for those school districts not meeting that level of connectivity. The good news is school and state leaders can leverage CK12’s free and easy-to-understand data to better navigate the market when negotiating new internet contracts — giving them the information they need to obtain better rates for their budgets and better connectivity for their classrooms.”

In 2023, the national median cost per megabit for districts meeting or exceeding the goal dropped to just 85 cents. In comparison, those districts not meeting the goal are paying well above that median price at $1.55 per megabit.

“This demonstrates that the FCC’s goal is not just attainable, it actually benefits school districts in several ways,” said Jordan. “Students and teachers are getting the connectivity they need in every classroom, every day, and the districts are potentially saving money.”

The data in the 2023 Report on School Connectivity was compiled and analyzed by CN in partnership with FFL and is available to the public on the ConnectK12.org website.

The free site aggregates, analyzes, and visualizes federal E-rate data and provides internet pricing and speed transparency that equip state and district leaders with critical information on school connectivity and affordability. Key takeaways from this year’s Connectivity report include:

• 74% of all U.S. school districts now meet or exceed the FCC goal
  • That’s an increase of 57.4% since 2020 
    
    
• 16 states now have 80% or more of their districts at 1 Mbps per student
  • Only nine states met the goal in 2022
    
    
• Kentucky saw the biggest leap from 2022 to 2023
  • Jumping from 49^th in the country to 5^th with 97% of districts now having access to the FCC benchmark
    
    
• 3,330 of the nation’s 12,911 school districts are not yet meeting the goal