National Association of Counties * Washington, D.C.            Vol. 32, No. 10 * May 29, 2000

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The ABCs of School Internet Access

Most counties are climbing on the information highway and using the Internet to run more efficient government, to provide services to their constituents as well as to promote their communities. But what are public schools doing in the acquisition and provision of information technology and in the preparation of their students for the technological workplace?

In February, the U.S. Department of Education released a report called “Internet Access in U.S. Public Schools and Classrooms.” This report, prepared by the department’s National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), highlights the progress made between 1994 and 1999 in acquiring Internet access in schools.

The survey responses reveal that public schools have made substantial progress toward reaching the goal of having every school connected to the Internet. The report shows that Internet access in schools increased from 35 percent in 1994 to 95 percent in 1999.

In another significant finding: It appears that the so-called “digital divide” has disappeared in America’s schools. Data from 1994 showed that more affluent school districts and suburban schools were more likely to have Internet access than poorer or inner-city schools. The 1999 data shows that these differences have disappeared. All schools, regardless of their status, were equally likely to have access to the Internet.

However, in the important area of student or classroom access to the Internet, the digital divide remains in place. The second phase of the report highlighted the changes in Internet access in classrooms. Areas with high levels of poverty report having only 39 percent of their classrooms connected while more affluent areas report between 62 and 74 percent connected. Poor areas showed little or no increase in connected classrooms between 1998 and 1999, while the more affluent areas reported increases.

The report also shows the number of students per computer in public schools dropped from 12 per computer to nine per computer between 1998 and 1999. Although this is an average, wide differences in access still exist depending on the location of the school systems.

Larger and medium-sized schools usually have 10 and nine students, respectively, using a computer while smaller schools report only six per computer. Urban schools report 11 students per computer and rural schools report seven. As expected, schools with the highest rate of poverty report 16 students using each computer.

How is funding for hardware, software or advanced telecommunications of public schools being obtained? The survey shows that nine out of 10 public schools were receiving funding from local county or city taxpayers through their school districts. Seventy-two percent also report receiving funds from state or federal government programs. Nearly one-third report receiving support from parents or parent organizations, and a third also report receiving funding from the business sector. Fifteen percent said that teachers and students helped and 5 percent said other individuals provided funding.

A question posed to school administrators about the primary source of support showed that 58 percent got their primary funding from the taxpayers of their counties or cities through the school district. Thirty-two percent stated that state and federal funds were the primary source of funding. Only 14 percent of the more affluent areas cited state and federal funds as the primary source of funding, while 48 percent of the poorer schools named this source.

More than 78 percent of the more affluent schools show the school district as the primary source of funding while only 43 percent of the poorer school districts rely on the school district as a major source.

For additional information about Internet access in schools go to the National Center for Education Statistics at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2000086

(Research News was written by Jacqueline Byers, research director.)