Verizon to offer internet access to LA Unified

Los Angeles Unified, in partnership with Verizon, plans to spend $100 million to provide internet access to all students in the district who don’t already have that access at home, district Superintendent Austin Beutner announced March 23. The district, which is the largest in the state, enrolls more than 600,000 students and estimates that 25 percent of those students don’t have internet at home. As part of the $100 million investment, the district will also provide devices to all students who need them. Further details on how the district will distribute those devices and set up internet access will be provided shortly, Beutner said.

Meanwhile, L.A. Unified and San Diego Unified, the second-biggest district in the state, in a joint letter on March 23 asked the state Legislature to consider emergency state funding for school districts to help with distance learning and other challenges. They asked for a minimum of $500 per student, saying that they were facing severe fiscal challenges because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Said simply, our budgets will not balance for the current fiscal year because of the extraordinary costs associated with responding to the global pandemic. We request an additional emergency appropriation to address these unforeseen costs,” Beutner and San Diego Unified Superintendent Cindy Marten wrote in the letter.