Rural communities’ broadband internet access has become a key part of President Donald Trump’s $1 trillion infrastructure proposal, which would promote high-speed internet access across rural America, including schools, classrooms and libraries.
Schools’ access to high-speed broadband internet is not a new topic of debate, however–for years, policymakers and ed-tech stakeholder groups have advocated for more funding and better infrastructure to help schools establish reliable high-speed internet connections.
Much of those advocacy efforts have focused on the fact that rural students cannot develop the skills needed to compete and succeed in an increasingly global workforce if they cannot connect to the internet and use digital resources and tools.
“We have to make sure American farmers and their families, wherever they may be, wherever they may go, have the infrastructure projects that they need to compete and grow. And I mean grow against world competition, because that’s who you’re up against now,” Trump said in remarks delivered at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
