CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Friday was the deadline to challenge the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) national broadband map.
That map shows location by location of where high-speed internet is available across the country. The federal government is looking to get internet access to more rural areas.
Of course, here in our state there are many areas that do not have much if any internet access. 3NEWS stopped by the Brooks County Independent School District as some students were taking their end of the week test by computer. While the schools have internet access, not all of the students and their families have connectivity at home.
Special Programs Director Ricardo Garcia said the district is crossing his fingers that the $65 billion federal government infrastructure bill is going to pay to deliver reliable, high speed internet to places like Brooks County.
"I think it would be a great addition and very beneficial for students and everyone in general,” he said.
The issue of the lack of internet access came to a head during the pandemic. 3NEWS profiled a number of school districts who were struggling to try and get their students internet access. Premont ISD was one district where many students didn't have access to the internet at home or could not get high speed broadband.
"Challenges that we did face was internet connectivity," he said. "The district in partnership with some of the carriers did receive hotspots, but we were also limited for the students who were on ranches or out of the city limits.”
The federal government is going to dole out $42.5 billion of the $65 billion directly to states to fund the Internet improvements.