To stop digital ‘redlining’ and help students, make the internet an essential utility

Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 98 to help ensure that all of our children are able to successfully continue their education virtually through the Internet. Unfortunately, although this requirement on our educators came with significant funding, the California State Legislature did not couple it with any requirements for internet service providers to actually provide service.

We have seen this problem manifest acutely in the many school districts around the state that are scrambling to keep students connected. California’s surge in COVID-19 cases means remote education will continue to be the safest way to continue learning for many students in the weeks and months ahead. But the need for connectivity will not end after the pandemic.

If we truly want to level the playing field for students in California — to ensure all students have access to the technology and tools that not only help them access their learning remotely but will be needed for success the rest of their lives — we cannot rest until the internet flows like electricity.

We are grateful for the countless school superintendents, administrators, teachers and counselors who have been thinking creatively to keep California students learning during this difficult time. We are also grateful for the philanthropy and generosity of private companies that have stepped up to help, providing more hotspots and thousands of devices for students who need them. These collective efforts are inspiring. But superintendents alone cannot, and should not, be responsible for all children having access to the internet.

Like water and electricity, which require networks to serve entire communities, the internet is a service that requires a network to serve all children and all households. Tasking our school leaders to provide an essential service is akin to asking them to provide water and electricity — it’s insufficient and unsustainable.

The real answer is to regulate the internet as the essential utility service it is, and that will take state and federal action beginning with the Biden administration’s new Federal Communications Commission chair. State and federal law already require telephone companies to serve all customers voice service in a designated area. They are obligated to make sure no one is left behind. But we have no such “carrier of last resort” requirement when it comes to internet service. We desperately need it.

Right now, we rely on market forces, and the goodwill of internet providers, to provide broadband and hope that they will serve everyone. But that outdated and naïve approach doesn’t work in low-income or sparsely populated communities and has left behind millions of Californians.

In the 1960s, the term “redlining” became a familiar part of the national vocabulary after people learned that banks and mortgage companies were literally drawing red lines on maps around neighborhoods where they did not want to offer home loans.

Today, study after study has found that companies are doing much the same with Internet service, and they are under no obligation to serve entire communities.

We are past the point of offering incentives and relying on the power of market forces to close the digital divide. We need to require cable companies to be carriers of last resort for their designated areas so that all customers have high-quality, affordable Internet service available to them.

In addition, we should invest in public networks and open access networks. That means requiring companies to serve every Californian, and it means funding local governments and new providers to build the infrastructure needed to provide a true digital safety net. To achieve this, we need the FCC and the Legislature to require providers to serve everyone in their territories and to ensure enough investment in digital networks to close any gaps in service.

The need for internet access will not go away after the pandemic; it will persist for education, public safety and the economy at large. The pandemic has revealed the gross inequities that exist and the needed federal and state action that can end the digital divide once and for all.

This story was originally published January 16, 2021 at 5:00 AM.