Lessons from SETDA’s Leadership Summit 2018

Just finished two days with state education technology directors at the SETDA Fall Leadership Summit in Arlington, VA.

 

Probably the most important take-away from the meeting is what is happening at the FCC.

 

First, schools and libraries receive about $2.5Billion a year to build and maintain their Internet and WiFi connections from the FCC. This money comes through the telecom companies and is called eRate funding. It’s technically not a tax, it’s a fee paid to the telecom companies by businesses and consumers, and it’s what has allowed schools to build and grow the infrastructure they need to incorporate digital tools into the schools. 

 

Second, there is a band of wireless access that has been allocated to education called education broadband services (EBS). The FCC originally set aside these bands for educational television programming, but it was never used for that purpose. A few large districts are using it for broadband, but because of the cost of setting up and maintaining a broadband service, it has not been universally adopted. Since we are still in the early stages of adoptions of digital learning, no one really knows the best use of this bandwidth, but it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to figure out potential uses of it for schools and districts. Because of the imminent introduction of 5G, this bandwidth has become incredibly valuable, and many telecom companies would love to get their hands on it.

 

Ajit Pai, Chairman of the FCC, has forcefully come out on both issues. On eRate, that schools and libraries do not need funding at anywhere near current levels for their Internet and WiFi connections. And on EBS that the government should hold an auction on the EBS bandwidth to give it to the telecom companies.

 

Cuts in eRate could have a disastrous effect on schools trying to provide digital resources to their students. Every school I know still faces bandwidth issues, and eRate is what has allowed them to approach levels that allow teachers to use interactive applications to engage students. If Pai is able to eviscerate eRate, it will have a profound impact on the way schools are able to use digital devices and content. 

 

While EBS usage is currently being envisioned and not actuated, once schools lose the bandwidth, it will never be available again. If you have a strong opinion on these, write to your Senators and Congress.

 

While we are on Washington, the budget is looming. The good news, albeit short term and temporary, is that for the first time since the mid-1990’s, education funding was decided before the fiscal year was up, and it was increased by 3-5% (over the objections of the administrations and the US Department of Education). But with deficits ballooning to unprecedented levels, the administration has asked all departments for at least 10% cutbacks or next year’s budgets. Look for a very contentious budget process; it’s hard to picture the federal education budget even maintaining current levels. 

 

With all this doom and gloom on the national level, it was great to hear about the progress that states are making to transform education from the factory model to one that honors all students and prepares them to lead productive adult lives.

 

Schools are moving from talking about digital citizenship as a separate domain, and shifting to what citizenship means in this digital age. And states are working on leading the way. Many of the sessions were on leadership and change management:

• Developing a vision and planning rather than merely reacting or fulfilling compliance needs
• Building on what’s working in classrooms and schools already, finding the stars of education and then figuring out how to replicate and scale what they are doing
• Adopting education practices from those of a world where there was a shortage of information to one where you can find information on any topic at any time, but where a good portion of that information is often unreliable, false, or useless
• Protecting students and systems without preventing appropriate use of electronic resources
• Reimagining teaching and learning to incorporate student ownership, where students know why they are learning, flexible activities are based on student needs, and students proceed on their own pace.

 

As SETDA’s Christine Fox summarized, What we most want is for kids to exceed our expectations, and their own expectations, regardless of where they come from, who their parents are, or what abilities they bring to the table.

 

Thank you state EdTech directors and SETDA for taking that leadership.