September 2021

In spring 2020, the US Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology hosted a series of listening sessions with state leaders—from state educational agencies, state broadband offices, state libraries, and state economic development agencies—to identify what digital equity issues were magnified as a result of school closings, what immediate actions states were taking to address these issues, and what long-term solutions were being considered to sustainably address these issues.

At stake is a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that would devote $65 billion to broadband efforts and a Democrats-only $3.5 trillion social spending package with its own billions for broadband, privacy and other tech and telecommunications priorities. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told her Democratic colleagues that the House would begin floor debate on the bipartisan infrastructure bill on September 27 and hold a vote on September 30, following